A Spark in the Darkness - Part 1 - Destiny's Call
by Serina562
Summary: Plagued by unsettling visions from an early age on, the greatest desire of a young farmgirl is to join the Imperial Navy. Little does she know, that destiny has a much more challenging and dangerous path prepared for her. DISCLAIMER : STAR WARS DOES NOT BELONG TO ME, IT BELONGS TO GEORGE LUCAS, LUCASFILM, AND DISNEY. THANK YOU.
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

(8 ABY)

With a sigh, Serina let herself fall into the soft cushions of her comfortable meditation chair. The waves, visible through the front of the bay windows, broke into huge sprays down at the cliffs at the foot of the castle. It was a grand sight to behold against the slowly setting sun that turned everything to dark oranges and reds.

The castle around her had already quieted down for the night, everybody exhausted from their last long hike into the mountains of _Vaderra_ 's smallest continent before their return home to _Taanab_ on the following morning. It had been a very pleasant day, the sun already quite warm even so it was not summer yet and the laughter of the children had almost allowed her to forget the aching loneliness she felt inside. But only: almost. Four years had passed, but it still hurt as if it had just happened yesterday.

Sometimes she wished she would have taken to heart the teachings of the Jedi regarding attachments. But she called herself to order: attachments were not all bad. With fondness, she thought of her own children. The love between a mother and her children was something special. Much strength could be drawn from that kind of attachment even so the Jedi had thought differently.

 _Actually, it's more a question of right priorities_ , she told herself. Once, a long time ago, the Jedi had had the right priorities, acting upon the ways the Force showed them, but when they started to just use the Force to preserve the Old Republic they started down a path that eventually led to their downfall. She would try to teach her children to become sensitive to the leading of the Force and not to just be using it to further their own goals, no matter how honest and noble they might be.

Hopefully, they could avoid some of the pitfalls she had stumbled into, some of the horrible deeds she had felt compelled to commit and some of the heartaches and pangs of conscience that had been the result of walking a path of darkness while seeking the light. It had been a dangerous path, filled with more evil than she felt comfortable telling even her closest friend, her Aunt Marisa, about, let alone her children. She was still amazed that the darkness had not devoured her as it had so many others.

But her children had a right to know her story, her greatest failures and the motivation behind her actions. And she wanted to tell them of her times of success, of the good she had preserved in the midst of all that evil and of the love she had found where she had least expected it. But they were still too young, much too young to be burdened with such knowledge. The day would come when it would be revealed to them, even if she would be long gone by then.

She settled into a comfortable position, closed her eyes and emptied her mind of all the worries and issues of the present. With deep slow breaths, she calmed her whole body; then she concentrated on feeling the living Force around her from the strong presence of her children - bright beacons to her expanding perception - and her aunt just a few rooms away to the smallest gnat in the farthest corner of the large structure. When she felt herself completely engulfed in the presence of the Force, she allowed her oldest memories - buried deep within her soul - to rise to the surface.

After pressing the button of the recording unit, she slowly recounted how it all began.


	2. Storm in a Child's Heart

**Storm in a Child's Heart**

(22 BBY)

Her daughter had always been somewhat different from the other children - not that there were too many of them to compare her to. Certainly, one of the reasons for her behavior was that they lived way out on the countryside, far away from the next city and there had been only very few other children her age to play with. Thus, the now six-year-old had always been sort of withdrawn, having created her own little world to play in, a world with people to talk to and places to visit.

But Mira had never been too concerned about that behavior; soon her daughter would be old enough to attend the small boarding school in the nearest town for school operation period, returning to their farm only during holidays and vacation time. And that would be much safer anyhow, since, with each passing year, the pirates were getting more impertinent during their raids at the end of each planting season .

Anger overcame Mira as she thought of how little the Republic was doing about their situation. True, _Taanab_ was far out on the edge of the Inner Rim and only an agricultural world, but they were part of the Republic after all. Why couldn't the Senate send somebody to prevent the recurring raids? But it was of no use. Their senator had asked for help already way too often, but other issues had always been more important. And now, with the rumors of an impending war with the Confederacy of Independent Systems, their petition had most certainly dropped off the list altogether, so they had to just make the best of it themselves.

Therefore, Mira was convinced, it would be beneficial for her daughter to be away from the farm and from her isolation. But as the start of the new school operation period drew closer, Mira's concern regarding the other reasons for her daughter's sometimes strange behavior grew constantly.

It had started already more than three standard years ago; Serina could have been no more than two and a half standard years old. She had always been a very happy child; it had been quite a joy to raise her. But then the nightmares started. At first, they had attributed them to news Serina had seen on the HoloNet, but soon doubts crept in. As her ability to express herself grew, she had become more able to recount to her parents what she had seen during those nightly dreams. And what she told them had no connection with anything on the HoloNet. Mira had been sure of that quickly. What always amazed her was the great amount of details Serina was able to recollect from her dreams.

Over the months, her daughter had become more and more withdrawn, starting to live in the world she had created for herself in order to come to terms with what she experienced in her nightmares. Mira had consulted various doctors, but not one of them had provided a cure for her daughter's problem. She had still retained some hope, that Serina would outgrow this stage when one day, just a few weeks back, her daughter had come running to her in the middle of the afternoon, screaming at the top of her lungs. "It crashed! They are all dead, all dead!"

All she had been able to do to calm her daughter had been to hold her tightly until her screams had subsided and finally, Serina had started telling her mother under heart-wrenching sobs what she had just seen. "It ... it was a big ship, mommy, like those on the pictures you showed me. It was right outside one of our space stations, I think it was one of the larger stations they show on the net sometimes. Then something went wrong. The ... the ship somehow hit the station and then it ... it fell down on the planet. I saw it fall down right on some houses. People came running out. And then ... then there was fire, everywhere. Oh mommy, it was so awful!" Again, she buried her face in her mother's arms, sobbing heavily.

Mira had not known what to say. Gently, she had stroked her daughter's dark hair trying to comfort her just by touching her. "It was only a nightmare, you probably fell asleep out there in the sun," she had tried to explain the vision away, but without much success.

"No, mommy, I didn't fall asleep. It just started, as if I was right up there with the ship and the station. Oh, mommy, will these dreams ever stop?"

Mira had heard the desperation in her daughter's voice. How much she wished that she could make these dreams stop, but they didn't even know what caused them. Then how should they know how to make them quit?

Serina had gone to bed early that night recess period, but she hadn't been able to fall asleep for a long time. Tossing and turning in her bed, she had been too afraid of another vision to allow herself to fall asleep. It had been shortly past midnight, when she had gotten up to get something to drink. Her parents had still been sitting in the large living room, watching the HoloNet. Already on her way back to bed, a picture on the large screen had caught Serina's attention. Involuntarily, she had stepped closer to listen to the special report.

"Just about an hour ago, the _Intergrain_ , a large freighter, destined to dock at the main orbital transfer station, for reasons yet unknown, lost part of its maneuverability and collided with the station. While the station itself took little harm from the accident, the freighter was damaged so badly that it started an uncontrollable descend toward the surface of _Taanab_. When it became obvious that nothing could be done to keep the freighter from crashing the crew ejected in rescue pods. They have been retrieved by the local security and are now held for questioning.

The citizens of _Flatbeds_ , however, were not quite so lucky. The freighter crashed down in the southeast of the small community, destroying directly about one third of the buildings and setting the rest on fire. All available firefighters from the nearby cities have been sent to aid the survivors in fighting the still raging fires. Current figures estimate that about three hundred persons have died during the crash and at least two thousand have become homeless.

This is one of the worst disasters during the past fifty local years outside of the regular raids by the pirates.

We will keep you updated on the ongoing rescue efforts on an hourly basis."

A gasp from the doorway had caused Mira to turn away from the news that had captivated her. Serina had been standing in the doorway, wide eyed, all color drained from her face. Quickly Mira had walked over to her daughter. Like a puppet, Serina had let herself be brought back to bed, unable to get the picture of the burning village out of her mind. Mira had sat down beside her daughter on the bed and had gently stroked her hair.

Then, suddenly, an awful realization had struck her. "That was the accident you dreamed about this afternoon, wasn't it, Rina?" She had been afraid of her daughter's answer, but she had to know.

Slowly, Serina had nodded. "Yes, mommy, that was the freighter I dreamed of this afternoon. Oh, mommy, what is wrong with me? Why am I seeing these things?"

"I don't know, sweetheart, I wished I could make those dreams go away, but I can't. But," and her voice had turned urgent all of a sudden, "you must never, you hear, never tell anybody about your dreams except for dad and me. Will you promise me that?"

Her daughter had nodded. "Yes, mommy, but why?"

"You wouldn't understand that yet, just don't do it. I will explain it to you, when you get older. Now try to sleep. It's all over now." Tenderly, she had kissed her daughter on the forehead and had tugged her tightly into the covers. Then she had turned off the light and left the room.

Only a few weeks had passed since that awful night, but Mira had started to check into some of the other dreams that had plagued her daughter during the past planting season. It was harvest time and therefore she couldn't set much time aside for her little research, but she had already found one other event listed on the HoloNet that would match up to one of her daughter's visions, as she had started to call them. She was sure, given enough time, she would find more.

She had also started to look for stories about people with similar experiences. But the only stories she could find were about some Jedi Knights who claimed the ability to see into the future. _Sorcerer's ways_ , she thought. Mira didn't believe in the Force and she had heard quite a few stories about how the Jedi would take away any child they considered "strong in the Force" from his or her parents and raise those children in their temple. It had taken them too long a time to finally have a child, to give up that child voluntarily to any kind of religious organization. And, if the rumors about the government of the Republic were true, the Jedi might even be responsible for a lot of the problems the Republic was facing right now. No, she didn't want her daughter to be connected in any way with that crazy religion. It would be better for her to keep her visions a secret for the rest of her life than to get hooked up with this bunch of corrupt sorcerers.


	3. A Pitiful Sight

**A Pitiful Sight**

(19 BBY)

"Serina? Serina! I've asked you something. Wake up!" The voice at the edge of her perception was getting angrier by the minute, but the scene developing before her inner eye was captivating in such a manner she would not have turned away from it had that even been an option.

 _Two figures were fighting on a skiff moving in the middle of a stream of lava, one dressed in a light-colored outfit, the other wearing black. Steam was rising all around them, as the skiff drew closer to the edge of the river. Serina could not discern the faces of the combatants, they were moving so quickly in the fight, but she recognized the weapons: old fashioned lightsabers, both in a bluish color. The fighters seemed quite evenly matched even so the dark dressed one seemed much younger than the other. Back and forth it went, neither seemed to be able to get the upper hand._

 _Then the older one leaped to an area of higher ground on the embankment while the other remained a moment longer standing on the skiff. Now she caught a better glimpse of the younger man. Dark blond wavy hair framed a handsome face, clear cut, yet somehow twisted with rage and a fierce determination to win the fight. There seemed no way that he could attack again, yet, suddenly, he leaped up toward the higher ground. With a swift move of his lightsaber, the older fighter managed to sever the attacker's left arm and both of his legs. Then the mutilated body slid down toward the red glowing stream. Every attempt to pull himself up and away from the steaming lava by his remaining arm, made him slid even closer to the brink of the river._

 _The older man extinguished his weapon and looked down at his defeated opponent. He was yelling at him, but Serina could not understand what he was saying. Then he reached down and picked up a metallic object. As the mutilated figure at the brink of the river went up in flames, the other man turned away from him and left._

 _Serina was already starting to wonder if the young man, wounded so badly by the fight and the flames, was dead, when a hooded figure arrived, accompanied by some stormtroopers._ _They picked up the mutilated body and carried him away._

"Now, I just about had enough of you, young lady, even if it's your birthday today!" The rough shaking she was getting caused Serina to snap back to reality. Slowly her eyes focused on the red-haired woman in front of her. Shaking her head to drive away the remnants of her vision, Serina looked up at her teacher with an apologetic smile. "I'm sorry, it just happened again. Perhaps I should go and take some of my medicine."

Her teacher nodded. "Perhaps you should. How will you ever learn anything if you constantly fall into this absentminded state? But hurry. Now," turning back to her class, she continued, "where were we?"

Serina got up and left the classroom to go to her sleeping quarters. At times like these, she was glad for the story her parents had contrived to cover her uncontrollable visions. According to her medical file, she was suffering from a rare disorder, which caused her to unexpectedly fall into a trancelike state. So far, nobody had checked further into this "sickness", for which there was, supposedly, no cure.

As she was getting older, she was starting to understand why her parents didn't want anybody to find out about her visions. Not that she cared too much about having them - she would have much more preferred to be a normal child like all her classmates - but it didn't seem as if she had any choice in that matter.

The sleeping quarters she was sharing with two other girls from her class were small and contained only little more than their bunks and a walk-in closet. Serina laid down on her bed and stared up at the ceiling. She had been attending the small boarding school of _Marhead_ already for close to three planting periods now. At first, she had enjoyed the chance of being around other children her age, but soon she started to notice that she was different and that the others often avoided her. On one occasion, she had asked one of her classmates why they didn't want to play with her. "You always make everybody do what you want them to do. We don't like that!" he had told her, looking at her with a mixture of fear and despise.

For a long time, she had thought about that comment. Then she had realized that he was right. Whenever the games they played didn't go her way, all she had to do was to intently look at her playmates and wish them to act a certain way and, shortly after, the whole situation would have changed to her liking. But she didn't know how she did that and it didn't work every time either. Perhaps there was some connection to her dreams, she had figured, so she had made up her mind to find out if there were others with the same kind of abilities.

Although or perhaps because Serina was a bright child, school was somewhat boring for her. Her grades weren't really great. The reason was not that she couldn't have done better, but her interests just lay elsewhere. As soon as classes were over and the other kids headed out to the playgrounds or the swimming pool, Serina would go to the school library and start searching for those things that interested her most: math, physics and history, especially Jedi history. When she had read her way through what their small school library had to offer, she started checking into the information found on the HoloNet.

But the more she studied into those things the more she became isolated from her classmates, the other kids at school and even her parents. She never talked with her parents about what was happening at school or what she was learning in her own private studies.

She had soon realized that the visions she was experiencing had to do with the mysterious Force the Jedi believed in. Once she had asked her mother about them. "Don't ever mention those sorcerers again," her mother had answered with a fierceness that had frightened Serina. "I wished the Chancellor would do something to limit their influence! They are responsible for a lot of problems in our Republic!"

Since that time, Serina had avoided this particular subject when she returned home during vacation time. Their relationship had never been the same as before that outburst and therefore, once back home, she could hardly wait to return to school to continue her studies. She loved her parents, but she wouldn't allow them to keep her from finding out as much about her abilities as was possible.

During her first two school terms, there was still a lot of information about the Jedi to be found, not only in their school library, but also on the holonet. Soon, however, she noticed that this kind of information was harder and harder to be located. Even at her young age, she noticed how the attitude toward the Jedi had been changing during the course of the Clone Wars. Once they had been praised as the defenders of the Republic, now they were called corrupt and made responsible for the condition the Republic was currently in. But Serina couldn't believe that. _When I am old enough, I'll get off this backwater planet and find somebody who can teach me how to be a Jedi_ , she told herself.

The door opened and Esral, one of her roommates, walked in. "Why didn't you come back? Miss Belk is _really_ angry at you now. She said that she will call your parents and tell them about your behavior."

Serina sat up and shrugged her shoulders. "And what is she going to tell them?" she replied indifferently and got up. Esral only shook her head at Serina's reaction. But why should she care if her classmate had to spend the rest of the early half day period in retention.

* * *

Serina didn't really mind writing the impositions Miss Belk had given her for the next two full days following the incident. But when she was finally done with them she was quite glad. After all, it had reduced the time for her personal studies for four half days. _Time to catch up again on what has happened in the galaxy_ , she thought to herself as she headed for the library.

It was already dark outside and the library was deserted at this time of late half day, when Serina settled down in front of the HoloNet terminal at the far end of the high-ceilinged room. Quickly she keyed in her password and called up the news from the past few days. Most of them were local news from _Taanab_ , but some had been picked up from the official HoloNet out of _Coruscant_. Those were the more interesting ones, even so Serina knew better than to believe everything reported therein. Most were about the events just a few days ago, when Chancellor Palpatine had, with the support of most of the Senate, turned the Republic into an Empire with himself as the supreme leader and Emperor thereof. The articles she found were full of reports about the treason of the Jedi, about how they had supposedly tried to overthrow the senate and kill the chancellor, and about various fights between the clone troopers and the Jedi who had been their commanders for so many years. Some even displayed wanted posters for Jedi who had escaped what had become known as Order 66, a safety measure of Palpatine, who had apparently anticipated the betrayal. Or so they said. Serina, at least, had a hard time believing any of it.

As she scrolled through the pictures of the fugitive Jedi, she suddenly recognized the older of the two fighters she had seen in her vision. Obi-Wan Kenobi, a name she remembered well from some of her studies of the Clone Wars. Wars, that had come to an abrupt conclusion with the deaths of Count Dooku and General Grievous and the elimination of the leaders of the separatist movement, all of it coinciding with the Jedi treason becoming public.

Now, Kenobi had been a General in the war, often fighting alongside his former padawan, Anakin Skywalker. She remembered well the stories about the feats the young Jedi had been famous for, a poster-boy of the Republic, though she could not quite recall his face. Was he dead or on the run, just like his former master? Again, she scrolled through the wanted posters. No, his name did not appear anywhere. Perhaps he was dead? But somehow, she couldn't believe that.

Then she had another hunch. Quickly she put in a search for the name "Skywalker". Finally, a picture appeared on the screen. With amazement, she recognized the other of the two fighters, the younger man, who had been mutilated and burned in her vision. What had become of him? Was he dead? Was it not impossible to survive the injuries she had witnessed? And yet somehow, she just could not, and, for whatever reason, did not want to believe it. With new vigor, she searched for any report that might be related to the incident her vision had let her become privy to.

An hour later, Serina was nearly about to give up, when a short notice caught her eye. The Emperor's shuttle had been watched landing at the Grand Republic Medical Facility a few days prior. The author of the short article was speculating about who might have been important enough and wounded during the Jedi Purge that the Emperor would have taken him there in person. But there had been no official confirmation of any of the proposed candidates. So, nobody knew who had had the privilege of becoming the first patient treated there.

 _Now this is interesting_ , Serina thought. Could this occurrence have anything to do with her vision? After all, a dark robed figure, accompanied by stormtroopers, who else could that have been but the Emperor? She would have to keep an eye open for any further information

Then another thought crossed her mind. Obi-Wan Kenobi had not only been a famous General during the Clone Wars, he had also been described as a great Jedi, even a Jedi Master of Republic-wide renown. Now he was apparently on the run, been hunted down like all the other escaped Jedi. _If he survives, I will go look for him when I'm old enough. He would certainly make a great teacher,_ Serina decided. _I hope they don't ever catch him._

But first she would have to find a way to get off this planet. She had thought about it a great deal in the past months. Actually, there were only two possibilities she was aware of: either she would have to be good enough to go to one of the naval training academies of their sector or she would have to find a job aboard some freighter. Though she preferred the first option, the second would do just as well to get away from this mundane place. She could always apply for another of the military training schools from somewhere else. Once she had managed to at least graduate from one of them, she would have a whole bunch of choices at hand. Though she would prefer to move on and attend one of the main naval academies, there would certainly also be other options she might enjoy doing afterwards.

But to be accepted into the naval academy system was not easy. She had checked into what they required. Since she had no family connections, she would have to be good, _very_ good, better than any of the men that applied. And the only way to achieve this was to be ahead of everybody else. Serina sighed as she called up the portion of the 6th grade math curriculum she had worked on during their last off-day. She loved all the physical sciences and history, but math was her absolute favorite. Why did she always have to sit in class and listen to the 3rd grade stuff that was sooo boring?


	4. Private Lessons

**Private Lessons**

(19 BBY)

When the vacation between school terms was finally over, Serina was glad to return to the small boarding school for her fourth term there. She had to admit to herself, it had been fun to help her parents with the harvest, especially since she had been allowed to learn how to fly their small landspeeder, under her father's supervision of course, but it was the first step. Soon she would be old enough to fly it all by herself. She could hardly wait for that day. But, after more than seven weeks, she was anxious to get back to her studies.

Her parents dropped her off at the girl's dormitory and helped her carry her suitcase and bags inside.

"Hi there, Serina, how was your vacation?" Esral greeted her when she entered their small sleeping quarters. "Did you hear about the new teacher we will be getting?"

Serina shook her head. "No, what happened to Miss Belk? We were supposed to have her for at least one more term."

"Believe it or not, she got married, quite surprisingly, and moved to _Southern Plains_. Let's just hope this new guy, I think his name is Marc Camon, is not as boring as Miss Belk was. Well, anybody's got to be more interesting than her," Esral exclaimed.

"You are right," Serina agreed, "anybody's got to be much more inspiring than her. Let's just hope he's not as quick in passing out impositions as she was."

Esral laughed. "Yea, you got your share of them last year, I remember."

"Let's just not talk about it, all right?" Serina wasn't going to get into that subject again. She knew she could only blame herself for most of the trouble she had gotten into with their teacher. And she was determined to do better this year.

* * *

Marc Camon was not the usual kind of teacher. He was in his late twenties with a slender, yet well-trained body and nearly black, short-cropped hair. His introduction had been quite vague, not really revealing anything to them beyond his name, not even his place of birth or recent engagements. There seemed to be something mysterious about him. Everybody had noticed it during the first half-day and, as soon as classes were recessed for the midday rest period, rumors were starting to make the rounds.

"Perhaps he's an escaped prisoner," one of the boys guessed.

"No way, but he might be of some royal family from some far away planet," one of the girls suggested.

Serina listened to their wild ideas, but she had already made up her mind. No matter why Mr. Camon was now teaching at their small school and no matter what he had to hide, he had been in some military unit. Some of his remarks had convinced her quickly of that, and he hadn't left on good terms either. She had _felt_ his bitterness when the subject had come up. But perhaps he could help her with her own studies. It would be worth a try.

A few half-days later, during their math class, Serina had decided it was time to draw Mr. Camon's attention. And she had thought up a plan of how to achieve exactly that. They had just received some problems to solve, since their teacher wanted to know how much they still remembered from the past school term. For Serina, it was always boring to solve these problems so she had brought some 7th grade ones with her and was doing them instead.

The problem she had chosen was quite complicated and soon she was so concentrated on it that she didn't even notice her new teacher standing in front of her desk until he cleared his throat loud enough to get her attention.

"May I ask what you are doing there, young lady? I don't think the problems I had given you included any kind of drawing." Before Serina could react, he had grabbed her paper and was scanning over it.

After a moment, he looked at her with a questioning expression on his face. "Did you solve that all by yourself?"

A certain pride glittered in Serina's eyes as she nodded. "Yes, Mr. Camon."

"Please stay here after class. I would like to talk to you about this some more."

"Of course, Mr. Camon." This had been easier than Serina had expected. Perhaps she could really convince him to help her with her studies. And along the way, she might just discover what this nice young man was hiding from them.

The school bell rang for the midday recess period and the classroom emptied quickly, as the other pupils headed for the school canteen. Soon, Serina was alone in the room with her new teacher.

"Come over here and sit down, Serina," he motioned her to a chair he had pulled up beside his teacher's desk. "Now tell me, did you really do that math problem all by yourself?"

"Of course," Serina answered indignantly, "and I don't think it too hard either!" she added with a certain pride in her voice.

"This is about 7th grade stuff. You must be doing quite a bit of learning on the side to be that far ahead of the others. Have you done this only with math or with other subjects also?" Marc wanted to know.

"Well, in math I'm doing 7th grade right now, in the other sciences I am only in 6th grade, but in history I'm even a little bit further."

"And may I ask why you are so anxious to learn so far ahead of the others?" This young girl was starting to amaze him. Perhaps she had very ambitious parents who wanted her who wanted her to pursue an academic career, he thought, but on an agricultural world as _Taanab,_ he hadn't expected anybody to be that interested in education.

Serina hesitated with her answer. Could she trust this near stranger? Somehow, she felt that he wouldn't betray her if she did. Why she trusted him, she didn't know, but she had learned to depend on her instincts, so she told him about her plans to get into the naval academy system. Then she looked at him to watch for his reaction.

A sad smile appeared on his face as he considered her plans. "Naval academy, so, so! That's a high goal, especially for a young girl as you are. Do you know how hard it is to get there?" After one look in her face he continued, "I see you do. And what are your parents thinking about your plans?"

"They don't know about them. Please don't tell them," Serina pleaded.

"I won't, I promise," Marc replied. "Naval academy, hmm ..." His eyes seemed to stare off into the far distance as he sat there quietly for long moments. "You must know, I went to the academy on _Prefsbelt_ , but it's quite a while back. I even served for some years in the Republic Navy, right during the Clone Wars. But," and his face took on a harsh and bitter expression, "that's all over now."

With the most innocent expression she was able to muster, Serina asked: "What happened? Didn't you like it there?"

Camon looked into the young girl's eyes. Somehow, he felt obligated to tell her what had happened, but then he reconsidered. No, he didn't want to destroy the idealism he perceived in her. With time, she would find out herself, what was really going on in the Empire and especially in the Imperial Navy, as it was now dubbed. If she would keep her current determination, she would end up making the right choices at the right time. And anything she would learn there could only benefit her for her future.

"Oh, I liked it there a lot, at least the time at the academy. It's not an easy life, but it can be quite rewarding. I can't tell you the reason why I left. I don't think you would understand it yet. Perhaps I will tell you when you are a little bit older."

 _Haven't I heard that saying before_ , Serina told herself, thinking back to her mother's comment about letting nobody know about her visions some years back. She was still waiting for that explanation. Hopefully, her new teacher wouldn't let her wait quite as long.

"Now, let's see," he continued, "if you plan on applying for one of the training academies once you finish school, you will have to learn more than just math and history, even so both of them are important. Why don't you let me find out how much you have learned already, and then we'll put together a study plan for the next terms. You know that you have to be at least fifteen to apply, and even then, they would probably still consider you too young. Now what do you think about that idea?"

Serina jumped up and hugged her teacher. "Oh, I would just love that. But you won't tell anybody else about it, will you?"

"No, no. Don't worry. It will be our little secret. But you have to promise me one thing."

"Anything, as long as you will really help me get ready for the academy entrance exams."

"You have to promise me to keep up your regular school assignments just as if you weren't doing anything else. I expect you to be my best student. Otherwise, I will quit helping you. Is it a deal?"

Serina nodded eagerly. Yes, she would do her best, in regular school and in her private studies. And then, one day, she would be ready to apply for the nearest training academy. She could hardly wait for it.


	5. Conclusions

**Conclusions**

(19 BBY)

Marc Camon stayed true to his word. After they worked out a feasible study plan, he started tutoring her in the subjects she had neglected so far. And, since getting through boot camp required more stamina and less brains, he also put her on a workout plan she didn't enjoy at all, but she accepted the necessity thereof.

Since she had promised him to be his best student, she strove to keep her side of the bargain. Thus, between regular school work, her extra-curricular studies and the physical training schedule, only little time remained for staying up to date with the events taking place in the power center of the Empire, still suffering from its birthing pangs.

More than ten _Taanabian_ weeks passed before Camon finally made her take both half-days off from her studies. "Take some time to rest. I want you to be at your peak next week during the quarter-term tests," he told her. Gladly, Serina agreed. Perhaps now the HoloNet would provide her with more information about the two fighters she had seen in that vision. Although more than four standard months had passed since she had experienced it, it was still as vivid in her mind, as if she had just seen it mere hours prior. She was just not able to get the face of the young man, who had been wounded so badly, out of her head. In her dreams the vision would replay time and again, leaving her aching for his pain and with an overwhelming desire to help in any way possible.

It was already close to sunrise when Serina got up the next day. After a long shower and an extensive breakfast, she finally settled down at her favorite terminal in the school library. First, she wanted to check on any reports about Obi-Wan Kenobi, the former general and top candidate on the wanted lists. But besides some unconfirmed sightings, no news was to be found. He seemed to have disappeared into regions unknown. There were some reports of other Jedi, who had been "brought to justice", as the reports said. _Just a euphemism for killing them,_ she thought to herself, but none of the mentioned names were familiar to her. So, she started a search for the name of the younger man, "Skywalker", but just as the few times she had searched before, no new info-threads showed up. He seemed to have vanished just as his former master Obi-Wan had.

 _Perhaps I'm looking in the wrong place_ , she told herself and considered her other options. Finally, she put in a new search for special reports that were connected with the Emperor himself. Pages after pages of articles appeared on her screen. Quickly she narrowed the timeframe for her search to the two standard months subsequent to her vision. But that had been a very eventful period of time; there were still too many reports, most related to the hunt for the Jedi and the setting up of the new government. She would have to limit the search even further. On a hunch, she ordered her terminal to show her recent pictures of the Emperor. Already the third picture riveted her attention. It showed the Emperor in the company of a dark, masked figure. The article connected with the picture was titled: _The Emperor and his new right-hand man, Lord Vader, after the action on_ Kashyyyk. This brought Serina up short. A new right-hand man? She would have to take a closer look at this "Lord Vader".

* * *

It was already close to midday recess when Serina logged out of the library terminal and headed to the school cafeteria to grab a bite to eat. There was not that much to be found regarding Lord Vader on the HoloNet. Most enlightening had been a report about the events on _Kashyyyk_ , about a lightsaber fight between Vader and some Jedi, about him leading the whole action that ended with the death of thousands and the imprisonment of perhaps hundreds of thousands, mostly Wookiees. There were a lot of speculations to be found: was he human, Clone, machine or cyborg? Was he an apostate Jedi or a Sith? Where did he come from? Was he influencing the Emperor or was the Emperor using him? Many questions, but no confirmed answers.

But the few details given were enough to let Serina come to her own personal conclusions. First: he was definitely strong and trained in the Force; secondly: the suit he wore was certainly not only an armor but a life-support system as well; thirdly: he had shown up suddenly right after Anakin Skywalker had disappeared; fourthly: he was directly connected with the Emperor, and there was more to that relationship than met the eye; and beyond all that, it had been the Emperor who had retrieved the mutilated body of the young Jedi from that lava covered planet, that she was absolutely certain of. Finally, she put the puzzle together in her mind: Anakin Skywalker had turned into Lord Vader!

Although she was appalled by the events on _Kashyyyk_ , the pity she had felt for the beaten, dismembered young man of her vision started to turn into a morbid fascination with what had become of him, even an admiration for his endurance and fortitude to overcome those injuries in such a short time. And she was certain: _Kashyyyk_ had only been the beginning of his actions as the right hand of the Emperor. The galaxy would experience a lot more of his power in the years to come.


	6. Loss of Innocence

**Loss of Innocence**

(18 BBY)

"Make sure to charge the landspeeder when you get back." Serina's mother had reminded her when she had sent her back to the farm. After the ten-year-old had maneuvered the speeder into the old shed, she jumped out and hooked the just as old, dented vehicle up to the recharger. It might be a quite ungainly craft, but it belonged to her now. Her parents had gifted it to her when she had returned to the farm for the school vacation. As reward for finishing her fourth term at school, her first complete _Taanab_ school year, and that as one of the best in her grade.

Besides, she was now old enough to drive the speeder all by herself. It was harvest time and her parents were out in the fields overseeing the large robotic harvesters and the farm hands. It had been a good planting season; the rains had come just at the right time and they had been busy bringing in a bountiful crop within a rather short time. So, they had been glad for her to take over some of the errands, running back and forth between homestead, storage facility and the harvesters with replacement parts, operating supplies and snacks, allowing them to stay out in the field most of the daytime and even large parts of the long nights.

She was glad that her mother had sent her back to the farm already shortly before nightfall. Her parents had yet several hours of unloading the harvesters ahead of them. They would be returning late that night, but that was fine with her. Her conscience was bothering her and she wanted to prepare something special for them to make amends for her harsh words the night before.

It had all started with her father asking about her majors for the next four-term school year:

 _"_ _Math, physics and astrophysics!" she had announced proudly._

 _But the pride had quickly turned to anger when her mother had answered in no uncertain terms: "Definitely not! You'll be taking farming techniques, mechanics and botany. That's what you'll need to take over the farm when you're grown up!"_

 _Anger and obstinacy had caused her to throw all caution to the wind as she replied: "I'll never be a farmer!" She spat the word out as if it was the worst cussword in the galaxy. "I'm not going to rot away on this backwater planet. I'll join the military as soon as possible!"_

 _Then she had rushed out of the room, hot tears of anger streaming down her cheeks, but not before she had gotten a short glimpse at the hurt expression on her mother's face._

She had wanted to apologize in the morning, but her parents had already left early for the fields. It was the last day of the harvest and a lot of arrangements had to be made to bring in the majority of the harvesters and transfer the preprocessed grain into the storage facility. The first of the traders were scheduled to show up the next day to put in their bids for the crops.

After taking a long shower to get the dust out of her hair and putting on some comfortable clothes, baggy pants and a loose-fitting shirt, she started making arrangements for a sumptuous dinner with the help of their household droid. Once they had gathered all the necessary ingredients, she transferred the selected recipes to the cooking droid her parents had gotten two planting seasons ago and set it to work. Then she arranged the dinner table, decorating it in her mother's favorite colors.

Only when she was perfectly satisfied with the arrangement, she got herself a small snack and settled down on the large couch in the living room, the pad with the special vacation assignments from her teacher in her lap. Midday recess had been quite short due to the harvest activities and soon her eyelids grew heavy. _Just a few moments,_ she granted herself a short nap.

 _The entrance of the storage facility was bathed in the brightness of the many floodlights surrounding the landing pad. Droids and farm hands were milling around in front of the central administrative building and the docking area of the harvesters, directing the last of the huge machines into the unloading bay. Phil and Mira Wanders were in the central control room, overseeing the ongoing procedures, issuing directions were needed and continuously checking the screens displaying the various parts of the vast facility, of which only a small portion was located above ground._

 _Suddenly, the screen of the proximity detector displaying a flashing signal attracted their attention. It showed an unknown vessel approaching the facility. Phil pressed a button on the communication array and sent out a request for the vessel to identify itself, but the receiver remained silent. Another signal appeared and, soon after, a third. They were approaching the facility quickly and soon there was no doubt as to their intention. Pirates! Quickly, Phil and Mira organized the defense, grabbing their blasters as they left the command center. Raids by pirates happened frequently and all the major farms were constantly prepared for these occasions. Two stationary cannons emerged from their underground storage at opposite sides of the landing pad, each instantly manned by two of the farm guards. Other workers who could handle a blaster found cover behind the above ground outlets of the climate control units of the storage bins below. Those not apt to fight retreated into the shielded area below the central control room._

 _Phil and Mira had just taken cover behind the two columns that guarded the entrance to the building when the first of the three approaching ships took a reconnaissance pass over the facility. One of the workers lost his nerves and took a shot at the passing craft. The second ship was not far behind and sent a spray of blaster energy across the landing pad, forcing everyone to cower low behind their selected covers. The ships flew a long curve and joined the third craft for a second run at the facility._

 _This time the two stationary cannons greeted them with heavy energy blasts of their own, but the shields of the sleek vessels held. They returned the fire but it was obvious that they didn't want to damage the facility and jeopardize the grain stored there. Instead they were targeting the cannons. The third ship managed to disable one of them, but in return the other cannon scored some direct hits, weakening its shields._

 _The third run proved to be quite damaging for the defenders. Two of the guards were robbed of their covers as the first of the attackers leveled the massive metal ventilation housings with some well-aimed shots of its lasers. The second ship followed up and took out the men themselves. When the third vessel approached, all the remaining defenders concentrated their fire on the already weakened shields. As the craft passed the landing pad the shields finally collapsed. Phil jumped out from behind his cover and leveled his blaster at the retreating vessel. Several shots hit home in the ion drive at the rear of the craft. Quickly it lost height and crashed a good distance away from the facility. A huge fireball blossomed into the sky as the defenders cheered on their leader._

 _None were aware that the first of the attackers was preparing to take another run at the landing pad. An outcry from Mira made Phil aware of the impending danger. As he tried to jump back into the protective cover of the column, a stray blast from the quickly approaching ship caught him on his right thigh. He crumbled to the ground a few feet short of the column, his blaster tumbling out of his hands. As the others concentrated their fire on the remaining two ships, Mira ran to her husband's side and tried to pull him toward the relative safety of the column. But her rescue attempt was foiled when a well-aimed shot from the second attacker tore into her, causing her to crumble on top of her husband._

Her own anguished cry caused Serina to tear free of the vision. For a long moment, she just sat on the couch, unable to move or think clearly. Then she jumped up and ran to the comm unit. After adjusting the equipment to the frequency used by her parents, she was just about to establish the connection to the storage facility, when she hesitated. What was she going to tell her parents? _I just had a vision and saw you both die?_ They would never believe her! No, if she wanted to have any kind of chance to change the outcome, she would have to be out there, do something, anything, to warn them, to somehow protect them. She could not grasp a clear thought of action and there was really no time to think it through. A glance at the clock told her, that the time scheduled for the unloading of the harvesters was already drawing to a close. The attack would take place within the next half hour. If she hurried, she would get there just in time.

On the way to her room, she started tearing off her baggy house clothes. After quickly slipping into the tightfitting jumpsuit used during her training sessions with Marc Camon, she raced toward the old shed and jumped into the battered landspeeder. Taking no time to unhook it from the recharger she pushed the accelerator to the limit. She didn't even register the crash in the shed behind her as the recharger unit got torn out of its socket and dragged along until it got stuck at the gate and disconnected from the speeder.

Half an hour later, she slowed down as she approached the storage facility on the side opposing the landing pad. She realized, that the attack had already started, as the first two ships made their reconnaissance pass. Though she was too late to warn her parents, perhaps she could still prevent the worst of her vision from happening.

Not bothering to power down the speeder, she jumped out and punched her access code into the panel beside the backside entrance. The door slid aside, granting her access to a deserted hallway leading deeper into the administrative part of the facility. Quickly, yet with all due caution, she moved forward. A deadly silence accompanied her as she passed the offices reserved for the traders on the right and the doors leading to the packaging and processing areas on the left side until she finally reached the central control room. It was as deserted as the rest of the facility, but the screens displayed from various angles the events at the front of the building.

For a short moment, she watched, trying to determine how far the fight had progressed. As the ships took another run at the defenders, the energy blasts disabled the cannon on the far side of the landing pad. _Good,_ Serina thought, _I'm not too late._ Then the madness of her undertaking hit her. What could she, a ten-year-old, in spite of being tall for her age and in spite of all the training she had gotten from her teacher, accomplish that the much more seasoned guards in the employ of her parents could not? For a moment, despair threatened to overwhelm her. But then she pushed it aside. The vision had given her the advantage of knowing what was going to happen. Perhaps she could use that knowledge to change the outcome of the fight, to keep her parents from dying at the hands of the attackers.

She quickly left the control room and headed for the main entrance. As she approached the far end of the room, the doors leading to the landing pad slid aside, allowing the noise and heat from the ongoing fight to enter the reception area. Serina got down on all fours and peered around the edge of the door. In the distance, she recognized the ships starting their third run at the buildings. As she let her gaze sweep across the expanse of the landing pad, she was drawn up short as she caught her mother staring straight at her, eyes wide with horror as she recognized her daughter. With no uncertain gestures, she tried to tell her to move back into the building, but Serina only shook her head.

Then everything started to spin out of control as the vision turned into reality right before her eyes: the two guards fell prey to the combined efforts of the first two ships while her father brought down the third craft standing unprotected in the wide open of the landing field. Without thinking twice, Serina leaped to her feet and raced toward her father only to be held back by a quick grab of her mother.

"What do you think you are doing?!" Mira hissed at her daughter, "You are going to get yourself killed! Get back in the building!" Then she gave her a powerful shove propelling her back the way she had just come and turned back toward her husband.

Before Serina could regain her balance, she heard her mother yelling at her father to get out of the way of the approaching attacker. But Serina knew the call had come just moments too late. And it was her fault! Had she not distracted her mother, it might have come just in time to save her father. With horror gripping her heart, she turned back to see her father getting caught in the stray blast from the leading ship. Her mother rushed from her cover to pull him back toward the relative safety of the columns but the well-aimed shot from the second vessel slashed across her back causing her to crumble on top of her husband.

With an anguished cry Serina ran to her parent's side, as the blasters of the other guards and the still operational cannon poured bolt after bolt into the shields of the retreating ships. The leading attacker managed to gain distance quickly, but the second vessel was not as lucky. The last round of blasts penetrated the shields and sheared off one of the dorsal fins. Though it didn't crash as the third craft had, it was definitely out of the fight as it limped back toward the pirates' carrier waiting in a safe distance. The leading attacker however was not giving up yet as it curved back for another run at the facility.

Serina knelt beside her parents on the dusty, blaster bolt ridden landing pad, tears streaming down her face, her heart torn apart by the loss she felt. When some of the guards started to yell at her, she looked up and discovered the quickly approaching ship. "No!" she screamed, all her pain and despair pouring out of her, bathing the men in the approaching ship in the fierceness of her emotions. The pilot in his attempt to get away from the source of such overwhelming feelings veered the vessel away from the facility, presenting to her the right flank of the craft.

Without thinking about what she was doing, Serina grabbed her father's blaster, lying within easy reach. As the pain, she felt in her heart, turned into a fierce hatred for the attackers for robbing her of her parents, she raised the weapon, sending bolt after bolt against the side of the passing vessel until one of them found its mark in one of the few weak spots of their shields, the place where the wing rotation sleeve joined the reactor core. A fire erupted in the rear of the vessel, as the ship lost all maneuverability and crashed into the harvester maintenance shop at the far side of the landing field. Then the downed craft exploded, taking with it the partially unloaded harvester in the maintenance shop, pelting Serina and the surviving guards and workers with debris and preprocessed grain.

Several of the guards ran over to check on the young girl and her parents. They quickly realized that it was too late to help Mira. The blast had not only slashed her back, but had penetrated her lungs and heart. But Phil was still alive! However, it became quickly apparent, that the damage was too great for him to stand a chance of surviving.

Serina was kneeling only a few feet away, tears of anguish streaming down her face, mingling with the blood from cuts the debris had caused. She had thrown the blaster away and was hugging herself, rocking back and forth. _What have I done? It's all my fault! I shouldn't have come! Perhaps ... perhaps they'd still be alive! Why, why...?_ Her thoughts were spinning out of control, until one of the workers placed a gentle hand on her shoulder.

"Your dad's still alive. But we don't know how much longer."

For a moment, she just looked up at him without any comprehension at all. He had to repeat his words again, before they penetrated her stupor. Not bothering to get up, she crawled the few feet to her father's side.

The guards had propped up Phil's head on some scrunched clothes. There was nothing else they could do for him. The blast had taken out his right thigh, nearly severing his leg. The heat had cauterized the edges of the wound but it had also fried some of the inner organs. It was a miracle that he was still alive. When he felt his daughter's presence he opened his eyes and reached up a weak hand to caress her cheek.

"Are you all right?" His voice was so weak Serina had to bend down close to his mouth to make out the words. She nodded fervently. "Yes, Daddy, but I'm so sorry, I came too late and made everything only worse. I'm so very, very sorry!" The tears were dripping down on her father's face, but he only smiled at her. "It's alright, sweetheart, it's all alright. I love you..." His voice trailed off as his eyes fluttered shut. His hand fell from her face as his head rolled to the side.

"No, Daddy, no! Don't leave me!" Serina cradled her father's head in her hands, covering his blotchy cheeks with her kisses until one of the guards managed to pull her away from the corpse and carried her into the nearby building.


	7. Supply Run

**Supply Run**

(16 BBY)

"Serina! Can you give me a hand?" Marisa had just returned from the supplies store at _Marhead_ and was starting to unload her cargo speeder.

"Coming!" Serina quickly laid down the pad with her special assignments from Marc and rushed out of the house to help her aunt. "Is there anything left at the store or did you empty it all together?" she teased her aunt when she saw the huge number of bags. She grabbed as many as she could manage and started toward the house.

"Hmm, wasn't it you who wanted a party? Or do you want me to bring everything back to the store?" Marisa's pretended indifference turned into a broad smile when her niece dropped her bags and gave her a big hug.

"We're really going to have a party? That's great! I love that. I never had a party before." Beaming with excitement, Serina picked up the groceries she had just dropped and took them inside. Soon there were only two large sacks with supplies left in the speeder.

"Just leave those there," Marisa told her niece as she wanted to pick up one of them. "They are not for us. You remember Carla?" Serina nodded. Carla was one of her aunt's friends from _Marhead_ , whom she had met once or twice in the past two standard years. "Carla has an older woman by the name of Tantra whom she delivers some supplies to regularly. But she has some health issues and can't do the run up into the mountains this time. So, she asked me, if I could step in for her."

"Up in the mountains?" Serina was curious. Only very few people lived that far away from the settlements.

"Yeah, apparently that woman is some sort of hermit; has been living up there for quite some years all by herself. Must be in her late seventies, from what Carla told me. Would you like to come with me later on?" It would take a good three hours to get to Tantra's house. She would have to fly by the directions given her by Carla and hoped that Serina would come along. You never knew what could happen on a trip into an unfamiliar area. It would be better if she didn't go there alone.

"Sure, I'd love to!" Serina was only too happy to accept her aunt's offer. Vacation time at her aunt's place could not be compared with what she had been used to from her parents' farm. Her uncle grew only exotic vegetables and some rare types of grain. Harvest time for those did not necessarily coincide with her vacation time. Therefore, besides working on her special school assignments from Marc and continuing her work-out plan, she had just been lazing around the house, reading or watching the HoloNet for the past few weeks. Driving to the mountains was a welcome change to that routine.

* * *

They had opened up the convertible top of the cargo speeder and were carefully following the directions Carla had given them. The gentle caress of the warm breeze and the beauty of the untouched nature at the base of the mountains had caused Serina and her aunt to lapse into a comfortable silence. They had done a lot of planning for the upcoming party during the first hours of the trip; now they were just enjoying the surroundings, while they threaded their way between the gradually rising slopes deeper into the mountains.

Serina let her thoughts wander back to the awful events two standard years prior. She seldom allowed herself to dwell on what had happened, since she still put most of the blame on herself. The death of her parents had left her devastated, but the shooting down of the attacking ship had been something else. At first, she had been filled with pride at her success; then she had realized that she had just killed three human beings. It left her conscience-stricken and drained. Apathetically she had endured the commotions of the week that followed: the funeral, the appointing of a trustee, who would sell the crops and afterwards the whole farm, packing up all her belongings and what she wanted to keep of her parents' stuff and finally moving to her aunt's place, the only close relative she had left.

When school resumed, she had finally been able to return to a certain amount of normality. Since her parents could no longer object, Marc, after a long talk with her aunt and uncle, had made arrangements for her to skip two grades. This had also caused him to no longer be her class teacher. Thus, nobody could object to him becoming more of a fatherly friend for her in the months that followed. They had continued their extracurricular training and she would try to skip another grade after the next school term.

Actually - even so she scolded herself even thinking it – there was one positive aspect of her parents' death: unlike her mother, her aunt was a firm believer in the Force and shared her conviction that the blame put on the Jedi was a lie of the Imperial government. But Marisa knew only too well, that with the way the Empire had developed in the past three standard years since its declaration it was dangerous to say either out loud. And she had urgently besought her niece to stick with her mother's advice and not tell anybody about her visions.

"Serina, please concentrate on the directions, we should be getting close to that turn-off Carla told me about." Marisa had slowed the speeder to a mere crawl. Serina looked at the map they had brought along and Carla's directions. After checking their exact location on the speeder's dashboard and comparing it with the map, she pointed to some bushes just a few hundred meters ahead to their right. "The entrance to the valley should be right over there, if the map is correct."

Slowly Marisa edged the speeder forward. Once they had reached the bushes, a narrow valley became visible. The entrance was barely wide enough to pass with the cargo speeder. Careful to not scrape along the sharp edges of the rock wall that bordered the ravine they moved forward. Soon the path started winding upwards and finally opened onto a plateau with a small house built tightly against the rock wall on the left side.

As the speeder pulled up in front of the house, the door opened and a small woman, leaning heavily on a wooden cane, peered out at them.

"You are not Carla!" she greeted them.

"No, I'm Marisa and this is my niece Serina." Marisa introduced them as they got out of the speeder. "You must be Tantra. Carla is sick and she asked me to bring you the supplies." They walked around the speeder and pulled the two heavy sacks from the cargo area. "Where do you want them?"

"Just follow me." The old woman turned and, with short, halting steps, led them deeper into the house. In the far back, hewn into the rock wall, was a small storage area with several shelves in it. "Just put them there, I'll sort them out later."

As they were getting ready to leave the house again, Tantra suddenly grabbed Marisa's arm. "A special niece you have there," she told her. "Do you know that?"

"What are you talking about?" Marisa looked at her with a puzzled expression on her face.

"Come, sit with me for a moment; tell me about her." With unexpected strength, the old woman pulled Marisa toward some chairs arranged around a small table in her front room and made her sit down. Not knowing what to make of the strange situation, Serina followed suit. As she watched their host fetch some glasses and a pitcher with fresh water and place them on the table, a strange sensation stirred in her. Though she was certain that she had never met Tantra before, yet there was something strangely familiar about the woman, as if there was an invisible connection between them, a sort of kindred spirit. The longer Serina sat and watched her, the stronger the impression got.

Suddenly, Tantra turned and looked her straight in the eyes. "You can feel it too, can't you?" Her gaze was piercing, leaving no doubt in Serina's mind what she was talking about. Unable to utter a word, she just nodded.

"What are you talking about?" The confusion on Marisa's face deepened as her glance wandered from Serina to Tantra and back again to her niece, yet for long moments she received no answer.

"The Force is strong in her," Tantra finally explained as she sat down in an empty chair and poured water into the glasses. "But I think you know that already. That's why you are here."

Before Marisa could respond, Serina gushed out, "Are you a Jedi?"

"No, no," the old woman chuckled, "I never got that chance; might not have been suited to it either. I guess my parents were not much different from yours, eh? Didn't want to lose me, didn't bring me to the Jedi. So, I never got proper training. But I once had a close friend who was a Jedi." Serina could sense the sad longing that memory caused in Tantra, as she sat there silently lost in thoughts of the past.

"He tried to teach me, basic stuff, limited, but sometimes helpful," she finally continued. "But tell me about yourself. You are in turmoil. Something has happened. Not that long ago. I can feel it in you."

As Tantra looked expectantly at her, Serina shot a quick glance at her aunt. Marisa gave a short nod of approval. After what she had just heard, her niece's secret would be well-kept by this old hermit.

Serina turned back to look at their host. "You must know: I have these dreams. I've always had them; as far back as I can remember, even as a little child. And some of them really take place, hours or days later. The others might too, but I can't be sure." Serina swallowed down the lump that formed in her throat. "Two standard years ago, I saw my parents get killed in one of those dreams." While tears welled up in her eyes she recounted the events of that fateful night. "So, in the end, it was me who caused their death. It was all my fault!" She buried her face in her hands and wept bitterly.

Marisa put her arm around her niece and gave her a tight squeeze. "It's all right. It wasn't your fault," she tried to comfort her.

"Listen to your aunt. She is right: it wasn't your fault," Tantra confirmed. "Had it not been you, something else would have distracted your mother. There was nothing you could have done to change it." As Serina threw her a dubious look, she added, "When I was young there were many stories told about the Jedi Knights, about their adventures and their powers. Force-visions, that's what they called what you are seeing. I remember some of the stories about these visions and they all have one thing in common: as much as some of them tried, only very, very seldom they were able to change the outcome and if they did, it mostly ended worse than the vision had foreseen. There was nothing you could have done, believe me, nothing at all! So, quit blaming yourself!" She reached over and gently padded Serina's knee. "Blaming yourself will not bring your parents back. It just keeps you from moving forward."

For long moments, they sat there in silence. Serina was trying to consider what Tantra had told her, but her mind was in a fuddle and she couldn't think it through to the end. "I will have to think some more about what you just told me," she finally conceded.

"You do that," Tantra admonished her. "And if you want to, you can come back anytime you like and I'll try to teach you all I've ever learned about the Force."

"Really?" Serina was surprised by the unexpected offer. Then she looked at her aunt. "Would that be all right with you?"

"Sure, I don't mind." Marisa was pleased with the grateful smile that spread across her niece's face, glad that the horrors of her parents' death seemed to be forgotten, at least for the moment.


	8. Under Suspicion

**Under Suspicion**

(16 BBY)

"Serina, could you get the door please?" With hands full of dough, Marisa called toward their large backroom where her niece was busy moving furniture around and getting everything ready for the party. "And if it's Marc, tell him he's late. He wanted to be here two hours ago!" she added. It was fairly unusual for her niece's former teacher to not show up on time. She had already started to worry that something might have happened to him. During the past two standard years, he had spent quite some time at their house tutoring Serina during vacation time and they, her and her husband Kayv, had become close friends with Marc who was only a few years younger than herself.

"Can I help you?" Serina's voice sounded from the front door. _Definitely not Marc,_ Marisa thought to herself. "Who is it, dear?" She called out as she tried to remove the sticky remainders of the cake she had just put into the baking pan from her fingers.

A shuffle from the front door, a "Hey, leave me alone!" from Serina caused her to drop her towel and rush into the entrance hall. She stopped dead in her tracks, when she rounded the corner and was confronted with her niece in the grip of two stormtroopers with two more visible through the open door, while their commanding officer was glaring down at the young girl. Hearing her approach, he turned and scrutinized her.

"Who are you? What do you want? Let go of my niece! Immediately!" Marisa could barely contain her anger at the violent intrusion. At a nod from the officer, the troopers let Serina go. Quickly she walked to her aunt's side, rubbing her hurting arms.

"We are looking for Marc Camon," the officer explained with a condescending expression on his face. "Is he here?"

"Why are you looking for him?" Marisa inquired, admonishing Serina with a stern look to stay quiet. "And why should he be here of all places?"

The officer ignored her question. "Is he here or not?" he demanded again.

"No, he is not!" But as Marisa had already suspected, her negative affirmation fell on deaf ears. "Go, search the house," the officer sent off his men while he kept a close eye on the two women. "You know, if you are trying to hide him, you'll be complicit in his crimes!"

"His crimes?" Marisa could not believe it. Marc was no criminal, that she was certain. "I don't know what you are talking about. He is just my niece's tutor. Why don't you go to the school in _Marhead_ where he works?"

"That's where we just came from," the officer informed her. "They told us, he had left shortly before we arrived to visit you." At that moment, the troopers, who had searched the house, returned. After conferring with them, the officer sent them outside and turned to Marisa. "I guess you told the truth. But he might still be on his way. If he shows up, you must inform us immediately!" After leaving her a means of contacting him, he followed his troopers out through the front door. Moments later, they got onboard of their transport and left the landing area in front of the house, heading in the direction of _Marhead_.

Marisa cast a meaningful glance at her niece. Then, after a quick look around in front of the house, she carefully shut the door and motioned Serina to follow her toward the backroom. Then she whispered in her ear, "I think they left some of the troopers behind. They are probably watching the house. I just hope that Marc was late because he was warned and won't show up. Do you have any idea what that guy was talking about?"

"Not really," Serina replied with the same hushed voice. "But he once made a remark about having served in the Navy during the Clone Wars. The way he said it, he apparently didn't leave on good terms. Perhaps his past finally caught up with him? So, what are we going to do now?"

Marisa mulled over their options for a moment. "We are just going to act as if nothing has happened. Tomorrow, we'll have the party and in a few days, you'll be back at school."

"And what are we going to do if Marc does show up?" Serina wanted to know.

"Don't worry, we are not going to betray him," Marisa assured her, "especially not to that arrogant jerk. But I do hope he stays away. We really don't need that kind of trouble either."

* * *

When Kayv returned from the fields late that night, Marc still hadn't showed up. Though the troop transport had not returned either, Serina was sure that there were still some troopers outside the house watching them closely. They had finished their preparations for the party to take place the following day, trying to act as inconspicuous as possible. As Serina retired to her room, she checked her messages on the HoloNet.

She knew it was most likely futile, since Marc would know better than to contact her in this manner. Certainly, those searching for him would be keeping tabs on their message accounts. But just as she was getting ready to shut down her terminal, she noticed a new entry-request in her online-calendar. Quickly she opened the request. It was labeled _"Alternate date for missed training session"_ and listed a time the same night, right at 4100. She checked her clock. It was 3800; she still had some time left. The listed location was _"Survival camp ground"_. That was their nickname for the jungle forest about an hour walk from the house. In the past, they had done some survival training there. Marc had taught her to live of what the forest provided in form of edible plants, to build adequate shelter and to hunt some of the small animals that called those woods their home. This was certainly a message from Marc, hopefully inconspicuous enough to not draw the attention of anybody monitoring her account.

But how to get there without getting caught by the stormtroopers who were watching them? She called to mind the layout of the house and the surrounding buildings. Depending on how many troopers had been left behind, they would most likely be watching the front and the side door leading to the speeder shed. There were also large doors leading from the backroom out onto the porch; they might also be watching those. Since there were few spotlights outside the house, most of the back and the sides would be in darkness, but Serina knew the stormtroopers to be equipped with enhanced vision. She had to somehow make sure they wouldn't pick up her heat signature. Slowly a plan was forming in her mind.

* * *

Carefully Serina opened the hatch that led onto the rearward roof of their two-story house. Since the roof was only low-pitched, it was not very difficult to crawl along the edge until she reached the piazza adjacent to the backroom. She hoped that the roofing, that provided shade between the house and the shed where her aunt kept her gardening tools, would be sturdy enough to allow her to crawl across.

Slowly she lowered herself onto the roofing, careful not to lose the thermal blanket she had wrapped around herself to reduce her heat signature. When she was sure the roofing would support her weight, she inched forward slowly. Time and again she froze in place trying to discover the whereabouts of the troopers. One time she even heard some rustling below but when it didn't recur after some long moments she moved on. Finally, she reached the garden shed and lowered herself to the ground crouching amidst the bushes they had planted at the back side of the low building.

Suddenly, with a low scraping sound of plastoid-composite parts grating against each other, a dark figure rose only meters away from her. Serina froze. Had he seen or heard her? Carefully she hid her face deeper in the folds of the thermal blanket and crouched even lower in the cover of the bushes. Though she kept her eyes closed, she had the uncanny feeling that she knew exactly where the trooper was. _Just move on, you haven't seen or heard anything!_ She commanded him in her mind, wishing him with all her might to just walk further toward the front of the house.

Time passed excruciatingly slowly as she barely dared to breathe. Finally, the trooper turned and walked around the corner. Relief flooded over her and she drew in a deep breath. She would have to be quick now, before another trooper showed up or that one returned. Careful to avoid any noise, she crawled out from under the bushes and, still wrapped in the blanket and bending low to the ground, headed for the open fields adjacent to their homestead.

Once Serina considered herself far enough from the house, she dropped the thermal blanket and straitened up. _Finally, all that training Marc has put me through is good for something,_ Serina thought to herself as she fell into a steady jog through the fields toward the forest. _Taanab's_ single moon had just risen over the horizon enabling her to better distinguish the surrounding area. The terrain was typical for _Taanab_ : large, almost flat grain fields alternating with grassland for the roba or staga herds and every now and then a small river cutting through the cultivated areas. In the process of colonization, only small portions of the original jungle forests had been spared, her destination being one of them.

* * *

When the dark bulk of the forest loomed up in front of her, she slowed down. Warily she drew near to its edge, concentrating all her senses on the multifarious life she had encountered on previous visits, searching for anything unusual, anything out of the ordinary. The first difference she noticed was that the forest was much too quiet for that time of the night. Usually, you could hear rustling and scraping as various animals moved around in the trees and on the ground in search for food.

While she stood there listening, she suddenly became aware of a presence. Somebody was watching her. For a moment, she closed her eyes, trying to reproduce the experience she had had with the stormtrooper just little over an hour before. And it worked. She was absolutely certain whosoever was watching her was sitting up in a tree just a few meters into the forest. And her newfound awareness provided her with one further detail: she suddenly knew who was watching her. There was a sense of familiarity, of closeness that she experienced only with very few persons.

Quickly she slipped through the underbrush at the edge of the forest. As she approached, a figure slid down from the branches and stepped into her path. A strong hand grabbed her and pulled her into a nook between two hunkering tree trunks.

"Have you been followed?" Marc asked her in a hushed voice.

"I hope not. I tried to be very careful," she whispered back. Then she threw her arms around him drawing him into a big hug. "I was so worried. What is wrong? Why are they looking for you?"

Gently Marc disengaged from the embrace. "It's my own fault," he told her with a grim expression on his face. "I just couldn't keep my mouth shut. I made a stupid remark a few days back about the Clone Wars and about how they ended. One of my colleagues apparently tried to be a very good citizen and reported me to the Imperials. They must have checked out my records. Anyhow, I was just leaving the school grounds to drive to your place when I saw a troop transport arrive. I had a bad feeling right away. So, I waited in a safe distance and when they left I called up the school office. The secretary told me they had been looking for me and that she had told them that I was on my way to your place." He paused and gave her a questioning look. "Apparently, you got my message?"

Serina quickly told him about the events earlier that evening and how she had snuck away from the house despite the watching stormtroopers. Marc shook his head. "You shouldn't have come! That was way too dangerous. What if they would have caught you?"

Defiantly Serina disagreed. "So, what would they have done to me? I'm just a twelve-year-old out for a midnight stroll!"

"You have no idea at all!" Marc chided her in no uncertain terms. "They don't care how old you are! They'd arrest you and nobody'll ever see you again!" He paused for a moment, trying to gain back his composure. Then he added in a calmer voice: "I just wanted to say good bye to you. You went through so much already, when you lost your parents. I didn't want you to get the impression that I disserted you. But had I known that they were watching your house ..." he trailed off. "Whatever. We have to get you back to the house without them realizing that you ever left."

While they were still debating the best way for her to return home, suddenly bright light flashed through the trees only a few hundred meters away from their hiding place. Then, through the underbrush at the edge of the forest, they caught a glimpse of a bulky vessel Serina remembered only too well, moving along slowly, piercing the darkness underneath the trees with strong searchlights. "They found us," Marc hissed into Serina's ear. "There must be some troopers in the forest looking for me. Can you see them?"

Serina peered around the thick tree trunk into the direction of the vessel. She noticed some smaller lights weaving back and forth between the trees drawing closer with every passing moment. "Yeah, I can see them, perhaps three, four hundred meters away."

"We need to split up," Marc urged her. "Try to leave the forest down at the small river. If you're quick, they'll be still far enough away when you get there. Perhaps you can make it to the settlement and call your parents just as we discussed."

Serina nodded her agreement. "But where will you go?"

"I better not tell you. Just in case you do get caught." Marc cut off any objection on the young girl's part. "Now go!"

Without another word, she slipped out of the nook created by the hunkering tree trunks away from the approaching troopers. Marc followed closely behind. Soon they parted ways. While Serina headed for the small river that exited the forest only a short distance away toward the nearby settlement, Marc moved deeper into the woods.

* * *

Though it was dark underneath the thick foliage that didn't allow any of the moonlight to penetrate through to the forest floor, Serina made good progress due to her past survival trainings. Quickly she left the searching troopers far behind as she weaved her way through underbrush and fallen trees. Once she reached the small river, she followed it to the edge of the forest. The troop transport was nowhere in sight, so she left the cover of the trees and broke into a brisk jog toward the settlement whose dim lights were already visible in the distance.

The sound of blaster fire drew her attention back to the forest. When she stopped and turned around, several trees had already caught on fire not too far from where she had parted ways with Marc. Then she spotted the lights of the transport coming around the far edge of the forest heading straight for her. For a second she froze, then she turned and bolted for the settlement.

For a brief moment, she still held some hope that she could reach the low buildings ahead of her pursuers, when suddenly a second transport approached straight from the settlement and focused its searchlights on her. She stopped dead in her tracks and raised her hands.

The transport settled down just a few meters away. Several troopers jumped out and rushed toward her. Two of them grabbed her arms and dragged her toward the transport. They cuffed her hands and made her crouch down on the metal grating that covered the floor of the vehicle. _I just hope Marc managed to escape,_ she thought to herself as she peered through the armored legs of the troopers around her. _I wonder where they are taking me._

* * *

The trip took longer than she had expected. Finally, the transport landed and the hatch opened. The landing area was flooded with bright light from above. One of the troopers pulled Serina to her feet and pushed her toward the boarding ramp. Blinded by the glare, Serina stumbled and landed in a heap at the foot of the ramp. As the trooper reached down and dragged her back to her feet, she caught a quick glance around the compound. It appeared to be some kind of military installation, but only a small outpost from the looks of it. Then the officer stepping in front of her demanded her attention. Him she remembered only too well.

"So, whom do we have here?" he sneered at her. "Did you take a midnight stroll in the woods and get lost? Or what kind of line will you be feeding me this time? Don't worry. We have our methods to get the truth out of you yet." Then he motioned to two of the troopers. "Take her to the interrogation room. I'll be there shortly."

The room, they dragged her to, was small with only a metal chair bolted down to the floor right in the middle. Above was a lamp bathing the chair in blazing brightness. They pushed her into it and, after taking off the handcuffs, fastened her arms in the clamps on the metal armrests. Finally, they closed the clamps on the chair legs around her ankles and left the room.

Time dragged on as she waited for the commanding officer to show up for the questioning. She hoped that the delay was a good sign. Perhaps they hadn't been able to catch Marc after all. During their survival training sessions, they had built several hideouts in the forest. Some were buried deep beneath the forest soil und still stocked with various supplies. If he managed to reach one of them, he would be off the heat sensors. Even if they burned down part of the forest, he would be able to survive since they had dug them close to the small river with a small tunnel leading right into it.

She considered her situation. Marc's words still rang in her ears: _They don't care how old you are! They'd arrest you and nobody'll ever see you again!_ How could she prevent that from happening? What did they know about her? Obviously, that she was twelve and lived with her aunt and uncle. Most likely, that she had lost her parents, but she doubted that they knew much about the circumstances. Did they realize that that event had abruptly ended her childhood? Hardly! And they couldn't know about the training Marc had given her during the past three standard years.

She was quite tall for her age and puberty had started early, so most people would guess her to be fourteen or fifteen; but that arrogant officer would probably just see the little girl in her. Perhaps she could use that to her advantage. She was certain that they were watching her, so she would put on a good show for them. Hopefully, she could convince them that she was truly only a silly twelve-year-old girl who had gone for a midnight stroll.

First, she started to fidget around on the chair as far as the restraints allowed her. Slowly, she puckered up her face, just as if she was close to crying. Then she started calling in a whiny voice, "Hey, is there anybody? I need to use the toilet! Badly! Please!" She kept up calling for a while along the same line, varying between toilet, food and water. When nobody showed up, she started sobbing, allowing the tears to roll down her dirty cheeks. Finally, when she had worked herself pretty much into a bawling fit, she pleaded again, "Hey, I'll tell you everything, just let me out of here, please ..."

By the time the officer finally showed up, she was hanging limply in the chair, seemingly exhausted from crying. She looked up at him bleary-eyed with a despondent expression on her face.

With a condescending smile, he studied her for a long moment. "So, you are ready to talk?" he finally barked at her. "Then tell me, where is Marc Camon?"

"I don't know, you must believe me, I would tell you if I did!" she replied with as whiny a voice as she could manage. She was glad that Marc hadn't told her anything so she didn't have to lie too much. "I went to the forest because I thought he might be there, but he wasn't. And then there were people there with flashlights and I got scared and I ran the other direction. And then I heard shots and there was fire in the forest. And then there was suddenly that transport right in front of me and all those troopers and I was so scared." As she allowed the words to gush out of her, hoping that she had hit the personification of a scared young girl just right, she willed the officer with all her mind to just believe her. The expression on his face turned from condescending to disgust. When, after a short pause, she pleaded, "I told you everything! May I use the toilet now?", he turned away with an angry snort and motioned to the guard at the door. "Take her to the refresher and then put her in one of the holding cells. What a waste of time!" he mumbled to himself as he marched out of the room.

The cell was small, dark, and cold, containing only one hard metal bunk without any blankets on it. Still, it was a definite improvement on the chair. They still hadn't given her anything to eat or to drink, but it didn't bother her too much. She had already gone longer stretches without either during her training sessions with Marc. The fact that they were still asking about his whereabouts was proof enough for her that he had escaped. That knowledge comforted her. She laid down on the bunk and curled up into a ball, trying to retain as much heat as possible. It had been a long day and an even longer night, so she had barely closed her eyes when exhaustion claimed her.

* * *

A loud commotion from the door of her cell woke her several hours later. "This is utterly unacceptable! You can't just lock a twelve-year-old up like a criminal! This is going to have consequences for you! I know some very important people in the local government. You'll be really sorry if you don't release her immediately!" As the door swung open and the light from the corridor spilled into the cell, Serina was stunned to see her aunt dressing down an unfamiliar officer right outside of her cell. "Instead of locking up young girls, you should be out there looking for the real culprit."

The officer raised a hand trying to calm the enraged woman. "We picked her up close to where the criminal was last seen. It was for her own protection that we brought her here. She would have been returned to you shortly."

Marisa just scowled at him. Then she walked into the cell and pulled Serina to her feet. "Are you all right?" Her niece just nodded, relief visible on her face. "Then come on. Let's get out of here." She led the young girl past the waiting officer and down a long corridor. Only after they had left the compound in their old speeder, did she allow herself to breathe a sigh of relief. "I am glad that worked," she mumbled to herself. Then she turned on Serina. "And what did you think you were doing?" she chided her in no uncertain terms. "That was the most stupid thing I ever heard of! Just be glad we found your calendar entry and figured out where you went. When we saw all the commotion at the forest, we assumed the worst. And it still took us all night to figure out where they took you and there were a lot of favors we had to call on to get you back. Don't you ever do anything like that again, you hear?"

Serina had shrunk into her seat, unable to answer her aunt as shame and regret for her action overwhelmed her. "I'm sorry," she finally mumbled.

"You better be," her aunt harrumphed. For a long time, they were speeding along in silence. "Did you at least meet him?" Marisa finally broke the silence, now in a more reconciliatory tone.

Her niece nodded. "But only for a moment. Then the stormtroopers arrived and we had to run. I tried to reach that settlement on the other side of the forest. I don't know where he went, but he must have escaped somehow."

"Yeah, they are still all over the place looking for him. I wonder if we'll ever see him again," the older woman pondered more to herself than to the young girl beside her. _I wonder about that too,_ Serina thought to herself, but she didn't expect it to be soon. Life was apparently teaching her to let go: first her parents, now her teacher. What or who would be next?

She let out a deep sigh. That bridge she would have to cross when she got there. During the next few standard years, she would have to concentrate on her school and on continuing the schedule Marc had worked out for her. Without his guidance, it would be more difficult, but she was confident that she could still achieve her goal. As she gazed up at the sky, where the first stars were starting to fade as sunrise approached, she was absolutely certain: those stars were her destiny. Her path would take her out there, one way or another.


	9. Times of Transition

**Times of Transition**

(13 BBY)

It was a beautiful sunny day. The rainy season, partially controlled by the weather satellites in order to ensure good crops, was past and the temperatures were back up to the comfortable warmth _Taanab_ was famous for. The _Festival of Stars_ week had just come to an end and Serina had decided to take the long way to Tantra's small mountain home, delighting in the untouched nature at the base of the higher hills west of her aunt's farm. The slowly rising slopes were just changing from the rich greens of the rainy season to the colorful display of the full blossoms.

 _This might be the last chance of seeing all of this beauty for a long time_ , Serina considered as she followed the unmarked passage leading into the mountains. She had opened the convertible top of the speeder and the warm breeze was ruffling up her short-cropped hair. It might also be her last opportunity to spend some time with Tantra. She had already applied at some of the nearby training academies, and, no matter if she succeeded or not, she would find a way to leave _Taanab_ within the next few months.

Even before the well-hidden refuge of Serina's aged teacher came into view, a strange unrest fell upon her. As fast as she dared, she hurried the old landspeeder along the narrow ravine. Finally, she pulled up in front of the small house build tightly against the rock surface of the mountain wall. Something was deadly wrong; she could feel it in every bone of her body. Tantra had not come out to greet her as she usually did! The inner unrest turned into an overwhelming anxiety as Serina approached the house. The door was unlocked as always.

"Tantra? Tantra? Are you all right in there?" Gingerly, Serina stepped into the dimness inside.

"I've been waiting for you, come on in!" a weak voice called out to her from the bedroom at the other end of the house. Her eyes had already adjusted to the dim lighting when Serina stepped up to the small bed. She hardly recognized her teacher. Although she had been bowed down by her advanced age and had to use a cane when she moved around, Tantra had always been surprisingly strong when the need arose and she had looked healthy despite her years. "Eighty is not really any age at all for a tough lady like myself," Tantra had often joked around, "besides, you are only as old as you feel like." But now, she looked frail and weak, her cheeks were sunken in and her skin had taken on an unhealthy, grayish color.

Serina knelt down beside the bed taking Tantra's small, bony hand into hers. "What is wrong, Tantra, are you sick? Should I take you to the medic droids down in _Marhead_?"

But the old hermit shook her head weakly. "No, Serina, it is of no use. Once your time has come to go, nothing can hold you back. Don't be sad. I've lived long enough and it's been a rich and full life. I'm just glad that I got to see you one more time."

A bad cough shook her whole body, leaving the old woman even weaker than before. She motioned Serina to bend down closer. "I know you will be leaving _Taanab_ soon, so you will have little use for the house at this time. Still, it will belong to you when I'm gone. But I have something else that you can take with you. Maybe you will find somebody who can teach you how to use it properly. I never did. Go over to my closet and bring me the small box from the top shelf."

Serina did as Tantra had told her wondering what kind of gift the old woman might have reserved for her. The box she pulled down from inside the closet was oblong and light. Cautiously she opened it. Inside, wrapped tightly into several old rags, was an innocuous-looking device. It seemed pretty antique, scratched up quite badly, but Serina recognized it immediately. "That's a lightsaber!" she exclaimed, "Where did you get it from?" Attentively, she studied the curious design of the aged device. It looked somewhat different from those she had seen on pictures of Jedi Knights who had fought during the Clone Wars, but it was definitely a lightsaber.

"You are right, it is," Tantra confirmed. "It once belonged to the Jedi Knight I told you about some years ago. He had received it from his master as a young padawan, before he built his own one. When he had to leave Taanab, he gave it to me as a going away present. But I've never learned how to use it. You should be very careful with it." Again, she was interrupted by a severe cough. "Since I don't need it anymore, I want you to take it."

"I can't do that, Tantra. That Jedi was your great love and this is all you've got left to remind you of him."

"Oh, child, I never saw him again. He has probably been dead already for many years. And soon, I will be with him in the Force. I can't take it with me when I leave this life. But you might be able to put it to much better use than just letting it sit here and collect dust." The coughing was getting worse by the moment, raking her whole body. Serina was hardly able to understand what the old hermit was trying to tell her.

Tantra motioned her even closer, her voice now barely above a whisper. "And never forget the old Jedi saying: luminous beings we are, not this crude matter. Don't be sad when I'm gone, remember, I'll be finally one with the Force. We'll ... meet again ... one ... day ..."

The old woman caught a final breath and exhaled, her spirit passing from her like a sunny breeze blowing to another sky. Then her body lay still. For long moments, Serina just sat there overwhelmed by the void Tantra's passing left inside of her. Her mind wandered back to the first time she had met the old hermit, delivering the supplies together with Marisa, more than three standard years ago, right before Marc had to disappear and she had her clash with Imperial authorities. How quickly time had passed since then. She thought of the vacation times she had spent at the mountain refuge, as the old woman had always called it with a wry smile: weeks of talking with Tantra, learning what little she had learned about using the Force and all the Jedi lore that the old woman had been so fond of; practicing what she had been taught with an enthusiasm that had always brought a smile to her teacher's lips.

And now, now there was really nothing left to tie her to this place. Her future lay out there among the stars, the same stars that she had seen so often in her visions. They were beckoning to her loudly, calling her to a destiny far away from the farming plains of _Taanab_.

She picked up the lightsaber and placed it back into the box. There was still a lot to be done before she could leave, starting with the arrangements for the funeral and with finding somebody to take care of the house for her. Afterwards, she would have to check on her applications to the academies. And then, then she would be finally free to answer destiny's call.

* * *

 _We are sorry to inform you that due to your extreme young age we are unable to process your application at this time. But we encourage you to reapply next year._

With disgust Serina looked at the formal notes she had just received. Extreme young age? What were they talking about? After all, she had turned fifteen already close to five months prior. On _Taanab_ this was considered adult age. With fifteen you were usually finished with your 9 terms of basic education and started to work. Unless, of course, you finished the remaining 3 terms and achieved the advanced education degree you needed to go to a university. And, still following Marc's study plan, she had managed to finish all 12 terms within just 9 standard years. Serina was certain, had she been a boy they would have been only too happy to take her, regardless of her age. But the Imperial attitude toward women was well known, even on _Taanab_.

Her aunt stepped into her room. "Have you gotten any more answers back yet from the academies?" she asked, but the expression on the young girl's face was answer enough. "Oh, they declined? All of them?" Serina nodded and showed her the notes with a disgusted sigh.

"So, what are you going to do now?" Marisa was looking at the disarray of the room with annoyance. "Will you be staying with us for another year and then try again?"

Her niece shook her head. "They didn't even process the application, so why should they do it a year from now?"

"But they told you that it was because of your age. You'll be older then," Marisa pointed out.

"My age was only an excuse. They didn't want me because I'm a girl." Now bitterness was starting to creep into Serina's voice. "And because I'm from here. Perhaps the Empire figures, nobody from this backwater planet could be good enough for the Imperial Navy. But I'll prove them wrong, you'll see."

"So, what are you going to do?" From the determined look on her niece's face Marisa knew that Serina's mind was made up. She would find a way of leaving _Taanab_ , to perhaps never come back again. And she couldn't be angry at her for it, either.

Too well did Marisa still remember her own youth! Had she not been just as determined to get away from home, away from the mundane life of a farmer? But her dreams had failed her. And then she had met Kayv. Looking back, she thought: _Maybe, I just wasn't as determined as Serina is now. After all, my parents were still alive and I had many friends here. But there is really nothing holding her back._ And she had no intention of keeping her niece from finding the way destiny had prepared for her.

* * *

The next day, when Marisa got up several hours before sunrise, Serina was already all set to go. She had only selected some basic items to take along: a few pants and tops, the flight jacket - her uncle's present for her last birthday - and not much else. It all fitted just fine into the small duffel bag she had planned on taking to the training academy. Carefully wrapping the lightsaber, she had inherited from Tantra, into several towels, she placed it among the clothes. She would have to keep it well hidden if she didn't want to draw any undue attention. Lightsabers were too closely associated with the Jedi who had once wielded them and who had been made responsible for the downfall of the Republic by the majority of the citizens of the Empire. And besides that, it was now against the law to even own one.

"Marisa, will you take me over to the spaceport at _Centralia_ later on?" Serina asked her aunt during breakfast.

Marisa looked over at her husband who had just joined them.

"Go ahead, I'll be working on the farming equipment this morning, I won't need the speeder until late half day . When will you be back?"

"It's only about three hours to get there. I could also pick up our regular supplies on the way. So, I should be back by about 1800. Would that be all right with you?"

Kayv nodded his assent and soon the old landspeeder carried the two women toward the distant spaceport. The air had already heated up even so the sun had just risen. Most of the fields they passed on their way were just about ready to be harvested.

Marisa cast a quick look at the young girl sitting beside her. But no, that was no longer appropriate. She was no longer the ten-year-old Marisa had picked up from the storage facility that had belonged to her sister and brother-in-law that fateful day more than five years prior. Already then, she had appeared much older than her legal age. And now? Now she was no longer a child, but a young woman, grown up into adulthood not only through years, but primarily through experiences. While her visions might have robbed her of her childhood, the death of her parents had molded her into what she now was, a young woman determined to find her own way without depending on anybody else.

Serina had been to _Centralia_ only a few times before. _Taanab_ was an agrarian planet, mostly sponsored by the agricultural conglomerates. Their commercial grain exports were handled from the orbital transfer stations and regular shuttles transported the cargo there directly from preprocessing plants like her parents'. Therefore, their large freighters like the _Intergrain_ and _Taanab Transportation_ never landed on the planet itself, but usually docked at the space stations. Only the ships' crews came down to the planet frequently and bestowed upon the smaller spaceports in the more rural areas their not always appreciated presence.

And then there existed the various smaller farms that often specialized in exotic fruits and vegetables, just like the one belonging to her aunt and uncle. They were grouped together in farming districts and usually had their own small to midsized spaceport at a central location. The smaller, privately owned ships of traders dealing in these specialties landed at those spaceports in order to meet with their suppliers on site. Thus, the settlements around the mostly circular area of the landing field usually consisted of small transfer facilities, which could be rented by the farmers, and a motley array of taverns and run-down hotels. And _Centralia_ was no different from the rest of them.

Marisa dropped her niece off in front of one of the better-looking taverns with a "Help needed" sign in one of the windows. "Are you sure that you will be all right?" she asked after giving Serina a big hug.

"Don't worry. I'll be quite all right," her niece ensured her. "If I need any help I'll know where to find you. I'll call you before I leave the planet, I promise."

For a long moment, Serina just stood there, gazing after the landspeeder as her aunt headed back to her farm. Then she turned resolutely and opened the door into the small cantina.

The inside was only dimly lit and filled with smoke. A small band was playing something Serina recognized as one of the currently popular melodies, even so the arrangement appeared quite strange to her ears. As she moved closer to the bar at the center of the low-ceilinged room, she recognized various different species of beings, but the majority of the customers seemed to be human.

Sliding on top of an empty chair between two men, both of whom didn't look trustworthy at all, she addressed the barkeeper, "Say, that sign in your window, is that job still to be had?"

The bald-headed man on the other side of the bar stared at her for a few moments. Then he nodded slowly. "Yeah, it's still available. Are you interested?" The tone of his voice left no doubt that he didn't really expect her to be crazy enough to want that kind of work.

Trying to look determined and hardened up, Serina replied, "Yeah, I want it. And I can start right away, if you want me to."

The barkeeper leaned closer and looked her over more carefully. "How old are you, anyways? You sure you know what you are doing here?" His intent glare would have made most girls Serina's age squirm, but she had made up her mind to get this job. It would be the best opportunity she could think of to meet some of the crewmembers from the freighters. She didn't expect it to take too long to find somebody willing to hire her as a low paid laborer for one of their ships. And until that time, she was willing to put up with any humiliation this job might entail. So, she only stared back at the older man until he finally turned away from her. "All right, you got yourself a job. You can start at 1800. And be on time."

With a confirming nod, Serina turned and headed back out into the street. She had to get a room and some different clothes. The lewd way some of the customers had gazed at her had given her the creeps. To wear her usual tight fitting pants and shirt would only provoke them even more. And she definitely didn't want to fall victim to one of those sex-starved spacers.


	10. Shipjacked

**Shipjacked**

(12 BBY)

 _This sounds like trouble!_ Serina thought as she stepped out of her quarters and looked around. Several of her crewmates were already standing in the corridor casting questioning glances at each other while others were just emerging from their cabin doors. "What was that all about?" the older man with the thinning hair across from her asked with a bewildered expression on his face. "Why are we supposed to meet in the loading bay? And why did we drop to realspace? We are at least another ten hours from our next stop!" All Serina could do was shrug her shoulders.

Everybody turned when loud footsteps approached from the direction of the bridge. A murmur went through the assembled crew as two of the new shipmates, an older human and a Twi'lek, came into sight. Just as Serina, they had gotten hired onto the _Coresac_ , a modified PCL 27 freighter, together with two other human men and a female Twi'lek at the main spaceport of _Columex_ a couple of stops prior. They were pointing blasters at the confused crew members and motioned them to move toward the rearward end of the vessel.

Reluctantly, Serina and the others complied. Soon they were united with the rest of the ship's complement, who had already been directed there and were now being guarded by the other three shipjackers. There was only one person missing from the assembly: the captain. If the determined expressions on the faces of their captors were indicative of their actions, Serina was certain they wouldn't see him again either.

After conferring with his accomplices, one of the humans, a tall, handsome man in his early thirties with close-cropped black hair and a small mustache, stepped forward and addressed the waiting group.

"My name is Peet Snoaker. As you may have concluded already we are now in full command of this vessel. You might wonder about the whereabouts of the captain. I am sorry to inform you that he did not agree with us taking over the ship, but we sort of had the stronger arguments." At his meaningful glance at his blaster, a loud murmur arose among the crew. Although not everybody had been a close friend of Captain Toard's, he had had a good rapport with all of those who had been with the ship for any length of time. Serina herself had barely known him, but, after meeting him once shortly after signing on, had considered him quite capable as well.

Peet did not give them much time to dwell on their captain's demise. A gesture of his hand caused the murmurs to subside. "Now, first of all I want you to know: we mean you no harm. What happened to the captain was unfortunate and we would have preferred a different outcome. But," he let his gaze wander over the assembled crew, making certain that he had everybody's undivided attention, "and I want to be absolutely clear about this: we will not permit any of you to obstruct our purpose."

Again, he paused for a moment, gauging the reaction to his words. Apparently satisfied, he continued, "You might think that we are pirates, and the Empire might agree, but we are most certainly not! For the past seven years, we have watched this galaxy succumb more and more to the evil that calls himself Emperor. We have seen _Outer Rim_ planets used for weapons testing, whole populations like the Wookiees forced into slave labor and the Imperial Forces crack down on anybody who dares to speak his mind. We are no longer willing to put up with that. We will do anything necessary to restore the Republic and with it freedom and justice for everybody!"

It was obvious: for Peet this was not just empty rhetoric, it had the ring of true conviction, and he had put his heart and soul into making these changes come true. Anybody, who knew what was good for him, would not try to get in Peet's way.

After having let his little speech sink in, he added, "And to achieve our goals we also need the parts this freighter is transporting. Now we will give you a choice. In about two hours, we will rendezvous with one of our own vessels on a nearby planet. If you decide to join us in our cause, we would be more than happy to transfer you along with the freight to our ship and take you to our nearest base. If not, we will leave you behind on the planet. There is a spaceport about a two-day walk away from where we will drop you off. We will give you enough supplies and directions how to get there. The choice is up to you. As I said, you have two hours to make up your mind. I suggest you use it well."

For a moment, Serina considered the options. Although she was not totally averse to the rebel's cause, she was not willing to give up on her desire to attend one of the naval academies just yet. A two-day trip through unknown terrain, even so she did not shrink back from it, was not really appealing either, especially since they had no garantee that they would be able to obtain off-world passage from that spaceport. And being stuck on some backwater planet for who knew how long did not fit into her plans for sure.

So, when nobody else spoke up, she cleared her throat. "Excuse me, Peet, may I ask you something?"

The shipjacker turned and met her gaze. "Sure, what do you want to know?"

"What are you going to do with this ship? Since you will be transferring the freight, I don't think you'll be keeping it."

Peet smiled, "Quite perceptive of you. No, we will not keep it. Even so it's really none of your business: we do have a buyer for it."

Just, what Serina had expected. "Now, that buyer will need a crew to operate this vessel. Perhaps he would be interested in hiring some of us?" It seemed like a valid third option. Peet considered it for a moment. Finally, he conceded, "It's a possibility. I will contact the buyer. If he's interested, I'll let you know. Now, use the remaining time to make up your minds." With that said, he motioned to two of his accomplices to follow him toward the bridge, while the other two remained in the hangar bay guarding the crew members.

Leaning casually against the bulkhead, Serina watched the others discuss their options. Some of them cast wary glances in her direction. The fact that she had gotten hired on at the same time as the shipjackers caused some unease as to her involvement with the situation. And she could not blame them for being suspicious. _That was really some bad timing on my part_ , she thought to herself ruefully. The whole situation reeked of long term planning. The only reason why the _Coresac_ had needed six new crew members at once had been that a virus had infected several of the previous crew all at the same time. Too much coincidence for Serina's taste: somebody had made sure those crew members needed replacing. She grudgingly had to admit that their timing had been just perfect. Too bad she couldn't say the same about her own. So, she watched attentively without getting involved in any of the discussions.

Soon three groups were starting to form. A small group of four got as far away from the rest as possible in the limited space. Serina was convinced they would be joining the rebels. There was a certain excitement showing on their faces and the general feeling Serina got from them was approval of the actions of the shipjackers.

Another group formed around Jared, the second in command of Captain Toard's, a tall, lean figure with visible leader qualities. Serina recognized two other members of the bridge crew, Kergan, the guard, hired to stand watch whenever the ship had been planetside, and two of the cargo workers. One of them was Merik, a young man who had shown some interest in her these past few days. He was sort of cute and she had enjoyed spending some time with him during their off-shifts. She caught him looking intensely at her, the expression on his face encouraging her to join their group. The faces of the others showed a grim determination. _They are up to something! I'm sure they will stay with the ship if at all possible. I better try to get on their good side. Merik will be happy. And who knows what that will be good for?_ Serina told herself.

The decision of the last group was also easily determined. They had resigned themselves to the long trudge through the unknown terrain to a spaceport they knew nothing of. Some of the glances they cast at the group around Jared spoke of a desire to take on the risk of staying, yet also of the lacking guts to dare it.

As the two hours were slowly drawing to an end, Serina pulled away from the bulkhead and approached Jared's group, causing a smile to light up Merik's face. "So, you are going to stay with the ship!" It was not really a question.

"So, what is it to you?" Jared's dismissive reply might have caused someone else to back off, but Serina had no intention of allowing herself to get brushed off that easily.

"Hm..., I'll be coming along as well, so wouldn't it be advisable to work together?" she replied with as much friendliness in her voice as she could muster, while "wishing" him with all her mind into agreement, just as Tantra had endeavored to teach her.

After a moment, Jared nodded slowly. "Yes, it would be advisable to work together. Feel free to join us. Let's just hope that we'll get a chance to stay on the ship. I wonder what kind of buyer they have for it." As Merik edged closer to her, Serina allowed herself a small smile while another discussion broke loose within the group. The first hurdle had been taken. But she doubted that the others could be cleared quite as easily.

* * *

"Jared has a plan!" Merik whispered in Serina's ear as she sat down beside him in the rec-room. Some of the others were playing a game of Sabacc with the older human shipjacker, apparently charged with keeping an eye on them.

Just, what she had expected. The transfer of the freight and of those interested in joining the rebel group to the other ship had been accomplished without incidents. Afterwards, those who had opted to hike to the nearest spaceport had been sent off with their belongings and some supplies. Then the group around Jared had been ordered to return to their quarters, where they had been locked in. Apparently, the buyer had shown interest in hiring them and so they were to stay on board for the two days it would take to meet with him. Once the ship had entered hyperspace, they had been allowed to leave their cabins and use the galley and the rec-room.

Serina had watched Jared and Kergan put their heads together in one of the far corners - probably a blind spot of the ship's monitoring system - as soon as they had been alone in the large rec-room. Only when one of the rebels had entered sometime later, they had stopped their hushed conversation and had left the room. She had already wondered how much longer it would take them to concoct a plan of action, since there was now only half a day left until they would meet with the buyer.

Merik wrapped his arm around her and pulled her close to his side. So low, that she could barely discern what he was saying, he continued, "We are to start a diversion, some sort of fight, in half an hour." For the case that they were being watched, Serina let an enamored smile appear on her face, just as if he had told her some sweet nothings. For long minutes, they just sat there observing the game.

Suddenly, one of the players jumped to his feet, toppling his chair. He leaned forward on the table and yelled at the surprised rebel, "You cheated! Is that how you are going about your rebellion too?" While he added some more accusations and grabbed the older man by his shirt, forcing him to get up out of his chair as well, the other players joined the fray ostensively as an attempt to calm him down and get the situation under control. But soon the first punches flew and within a few moments they had the finest free-for-all going that Serina had ever seen. Even Merik joined in while she managed to take cover behind some work-out equipment.

Jared and Kergan arrived at the same time as Peet to separate the squabblers. "What's going on here?" the latter yelled into the mayhem. A wink from Jared informed them that the diversion had served its purpose and that it was time to stop. So, they let go of the older rebel and put on apologetic expressions. "Sorry!", "Got out of hand!", "Didn't mean to!" and similar excuses were mumbled as they helped the disheveled man to his feet. "Get to your quarters, all of you!" Peet ordered them in exasperation. "We will drop back to realspace in four hours. You should all be presentable by then. Now move!"

As he watched them file out of the rec-room toward their cabins, Jared stepped up to his side. It was time to implement the second part of his plan. "There is something I need to tell you before you sell the ship."

Peet turned and looked at him with a quizzical expression. "And what would that be?"

"You should know that we had some problems with the hyperdrive lately. The nav computer shut it down twice for no apparent reason. Perhaps, some computer virus we picked up. We were going to take care of it after delivering the parts. But as you know ..." Jared shrugged and smiled apologetically at the rebel.

"Hm...," Peet considered the information. "What did you do when that happened?"

"We had to shut down the whole ship. Reboot everything. Was not as easy as it sounds. Has to be done in the right order, you know. So, if it happens again, just call me," Jared was eager to offer. "I'll show you or the new owner how to do it properly."

"Thanks for the info. I'll let the buyer know, too. At least that's a good reason for him to keep you guys, isn't it? Just make sure your folks don't cause any more trouble, ok?" It was obvious that Peet did not give the issue too much weight as he left the rec-room and headed back to the bridge.

* * *

"Have you ever used a blaster before?" Serina asked Merik in a hushed voice while they were waiting in his quarters together with Hera, Captain Toard's communications officer and the only other female in Jared's group. When she had returned to her cabin after the staged fight, Merik had already been waiting for her to let her in on the group's plan.

Jared had used the diversion to load a virus into the computer system from one of the terminals in the loading bay. The next time they would try to jump to hyperspace, it would shut down the hyperdrive and grant them the chance they needed to put their plan into action. After they had reverted back to realspace, the buyers had arrived in a small shuttle and attached it to the airlock opposite from the rebels' craft.

Peet had ordered everybody to the loading bay where he had presented them to an older blue-skinned Twi'lek, he introduced as Mur'oren. _Smugglers_ , had been Serina's first thought at seeing him. They had been scrutinized and asked about their prior positions on the ship, and then Mur'oren had sent them back to their quarters while he went on an inspection tour of the vessel. And now the three of them were waiting for the next stage of Jared's plan.

"Not really. Have you?" As the events were starting to unfold, Merik showed some apprehension regarding their assigned task. Since all three of the buyers would be on the bridge, their shuttle should be unstaffed. All they would have to do was to crack the security code on the hatch. That would be Hera's task. Only Merik would be given a weapon for the case that one of the buyers or one of the rebels showed up unexpectedly, since Jared still had some reservations about Serina.

"Just once," Serina finally replied, her memories taking her back to those awful events more than six standard years prior, "but that's quite some time back. And," she added forcefully to avoid any probing questions, "I don't want to talk about that time." No need to mention the shooting training Marc had given her before he had to leave head over heels. It didn't really count. Shooting at some inanimate target could not be compared to shooting at a living person. That she knew from painful experience. But would she be able to shoot at somebody to save her life and that of her comrades? She was not altogether sure about that.

Suddenly, a shudder went through the ship as the hyperdrive malfunctioned according to Jared's programming. When Merik opened the cabin door and gazed up and down the corridor, an alarm could be heard from the direction of the bridge.

"Stay in your quarters. We are taking care of the problem!" Peet shouted in Merik's direction as he approached Jared's cabin. "I guess we are having the same problem you mentioned this afternoon," he told the taller man just emerging from his quarters. "Would you come with me? We really need your expertise."

As the two men rushed toward the bridge, the trio slipped out of Merik's cabin and headed in the opposite direction. They had to get to the loading bay before Jared shut down the whole system.

When a few moments later the lights went out and the dim red emergency lighting came on, they had already joined up with the rest of Jared's team just outside the loading bay. With a loud click a panel in the bulkhead opened up and several weapons in different sizes became visible. Kergan removed three blaster rifles and several smaller pistols and distributed them. The attack team grabbed their weapons and gave them a quick check. Merik contemplated the small blaster pistol he had been given. The guard quickly explained how to release the safety catch and how to fire it but Merik's tentative grip on the weapon spoke volumes. Serina doubted that he would be able to fire it, let alone at a living target.

"There will be six persons on the bridge, the three smugglers, Peet, the male Twi'lek from his group, and Jared," Kergan informed them. "We saw the rest of the rebels head for their vessel before they started the hyperdrive test. So, you should be in the clear when you get to the other shuttle. Now move out," he ordered them as he motioned to the rest of his group to follow him toward the bridge.

By the time, they arrived at the shuttle, the regular lights had come back on and Hera immediately went to work with her hatch cracker. While Merik tried to secure the corridor, they had just come from, Serina kept an eye on the one leading toward the second airlock. For a few moments, the only noise was the whirring of the small device in Hera's hands and their tense breathing.

* * *

Soft-footed, Kergan led his group up to the last bend in the corridor before the bridge doors could be seen. He motioned his men to stay back. Then, tightly hugging the bulkhead, he cast a quick glance around the corner. The doors stood open just as the plan had foreseen. He caught a glimpse at Jared sitting at the main controls with Peet and Mur'oren hovering over him as he brought the various systems back online.

Suddenly, a shocked outcry from Jared drew everybody's attention, "Craps, that didn't happen last time! I don't know what caused it! We've really got a problem now!" At the same time, an alarm sounded from the ship's computer, "Power generator overload in process. Automatic shut-down deactivated. Critical level reached in 15 minutes."

As a flurry of activity erupted around Jared, Kergan and his men quickly used the diversion and advanced to the entrance of the bridge. "Freeze," he bellowed into the large room, pointing his rifle at the nearest one of the smugglers. His men followed suit and for a moment, nobody dared to move. Then chaos erupted. Mur'oren, who had still been hovering over Jared, with one fluid movement pulled up the slightly shorter man from his seat with one arm and pressed him to his chest as a living shield, while his free hand found his blaster. Kergan dropped to the floor as the first shot seared the bulkhead right next to his ear.

The others followed suit. While the smugglers and rebels took cover behind the various instrument arrays of the bridge, Kergan and his men crawled backwards out of the door they had just rushed through. Just as the last of them tried to slip past the doorframe, a well-aimed shot caught him in the chest, putting him out of the fight for good. Tightly hugging the bulkhead just outside of the bridge, Kergan and his remaining crewmate fired at their opponents, attempting to avoid hitting Jared in the process.

Trying to restrain the lank, squirming frame of Jared while at the same time wielding his blaster proved impossible even for the muscular Twi'lek. As Jared used his legs to shove away from the console in front of him, Mur'oren overbalanced and had to release him. Quickly, Jared dropped to the floor and crawled around the communications unit. As Kergan used the chance to get a clear shot at the Twi'lek's head, one of the other smugglers threw himself on top of Jared.

"Power generator overload in process. Automatic shut-down deactivated. Critical level reached in 10 minutes." The reminder of the impending doom caused everybody to intensify their fight for control of the situation. As Jared grappled with the smuggler who tried to pin him down to the floor, he finally managed to seize the younger man's pistol and fired at him at point-blank range. As he pushed the corpse off his feet and scooted around the edge of the communications unit, a rebounding shot caught him in his right shoulder, throwing him back behind the console, right into the firing line of the remaining smuggler.

As Kergan realized what had happened, he lost all restraint. Without Jared, the power generator overload could not be stopped and he was not going to let any of them, smugglers or rebels, escape. With a scream of rage, he fired a whole barrage of bolts into the bridge, setting several of the instruments on fire. As the large room quickly filled with smoke, the man beside him jumped forward and dropped the Twi'lek rebel who had to leave his cover due to the erupting fire, just to be shot down in turn by the last of the smugglers.

"Power generator overload in process. Automatic shut-down deactivated. Critical level reached in 5 minutes." The insistent reminder finally pierced through his haze. Kergan turned around and hasted down the corridor toward the smugglers' shuttle.

* * *

The hacking into the shuttle hatch had taken much longer than Serina had expected. When the alarm sounded the first time, she had cast an indignant look at Merik. "Was that part of the plan, too?" Merik only shrugged his shoulders and gave her an apologetic look. "I guess," he finally admitted.

"Hurry up, Hera, time is getting short!" Serina admonished the older woman, who frantically punched another formula into the hatch cracker. Finally, after another few minutes that had appeared to stretch into eternity, the hatch opened and Hera stormed onto the ship to ready it for departure.

The noises from the direction of the bridge did not bode well for their plan. Apparently, the take-over had not gone as smooth as Jared had expected. When the alarm sounded the second time, Serina stormed into the shuttle to check on Hera's progress.

"This will take some time," the former communications officer told her. "They have it secured with another sequence. I have to run the whole hacking routine again."

"Well, we have just 5 minutes left, if we want to get some distance between us and this ticking time-bomb! So, you better speed it up some way." Then she rushed back out of the shuttle to join Merik.

A scream of rage rang through the corridor. Then the noise from the blaster discharges intensified even more. Billows of smoke rolled toward them as the alarm sounded a third time. Heavy footfalls approached from the direction of the bridge. Then the heavy-set form of Kergan emerged from the smoke. "Get out of here! The others are all gone!" He yelled as soon as he caught sight of them.

He was just a few steps from their position, when a second form emerged from the smoke. The man, Serina recognized as one of the smugglers, raised his blaster and dropped Kergan right at her feet. Then he slowed and pointed his weapon at Merik, who stood beside Serina, paralyzed by fear. Without thinking, she yanked the pistol out of Merik's hand with lightning speed and, completely relying on her instincts, fired at shot at the smuggler. The blast hit him smack in the forehead, throwing him off his feet back into the advancing smoke.

Serina grabbed Merik by the sleeve and dragged him toward the shuttle. "You heard him! There is nobody left. Let's go!" Once they were inside the shuttle's airlock, Serina slammed her hand on the closing mechanism. Then she rushed forward where Hera was just starting the engines. "Release the magnetic holds, we just got a minute or two left to get away from that ship." Serina was close to yelling at the older woman. Hera pushed an override button on her console.

The small shuttle started to wobble, as the explosive decompression from the freighter's airlock pushed them away. Serina went back to the small porthole beside the shuttle's airlock. In the distance, she caught a glimpse of the rebel's shuttle that was accelerating away from the freighter in the opposite direction. Then the first explosions started to rip through the massive bulk. "Hera, some speed, now," she urged as she watched in dismay at how slowly they were gaining some distance from the _Coresac_. With a low rumble, the engines finally kicked in and propelled them forward.

As the explosive reaction reached the freighter's fuel cells, the space behind them lit up in bright colors as the massive bulk blew apart. Within seconds the explosion wave hit their small craft and caused it to tumble head over heels. Serina barely managed to grab one of the handholds beside the airlock, but Merik was not as lucky. He was thrown from one side of the corridor to the other as the artificial gravity failed. For long moments, the tumbling continued. Finally, Hera managed to counteract the spinning movement with the maneuvering thrusters.

As the gravity came back online, Serina let go of her handhold and rushed over to Merik. She helped him to a sitting position against the bulkhead. He was bleeding from a deep gash on his forehead and several smaller cuts on his arms. But nothing seemed broken. So, she got some bacta patches from the emergency kit beside the entrance to the small bridge and applied them. When she had done all she could for the young man, she joined Hera in the cockpit of the small vessel and let herself drop into the co-pilot's seat.

"That was close. I didn't think we'd make it," she exclaimed. The sober expression on Hera's face caused her to draw up short. "What's wrong?" she demanded to know.

"We are in better shape than the ship," Hera informed her. "The hyperdrive is damaged. The sublight engines still work, but I don't know how much longer. And we have a leak somewhere. But there is one ray of hope: we have got to be close to an inhabited world with a spaceport. I know Jared made sure that his programming only kicked in if there was such a planet close by. He was not crazy enough to try that stunt out in nowhere."

"Then we better get there quickly before we run out of air." Together with Hera she studied the readouts of the sensor array. Then they programmed a course that would bring them directly to the second planet of the system, which the nav computer had identified as _Formos_. As _Formos_ _'_ sun - at first only a small speck in the distance - was slowly increasing in size, Serina leaned back into her chair and tried to calm her mind in the way Tantra had taught her. A thought intruded unbidden and ruined her concentration: did Peet manage to escape as well?


	11. Fateful Encounter

**Fateful Encounter**

(12 BBY)

 _Well, here we go again!_ Serina thought as she started to strap in for the drop back to realspace. She could only hope that soon there would be an opportunity to find some other transport back toward the Core. She had been so close already. But somehow, she had missed her chance and now the freighter she was on was taking her further away with each new assignment.

But that was actually the least of her problems. Not that the _Ayers' Nest_ itself gave her cause to worry, no, even to the contrary. She had been quite surprised when she had taken a good look at the engines. Though the ship looked from the outside as if it would fall apart shortly, the actual machinery was well kept and much faster than she had expected. As a matter of fact, had she seen the engines before signing on, she would have never ended up in this undesirable situation. It would have gotten her suspicious right away. But on the other hand, they hadn't had much choice either. Unlike Hera, who had found a new engagement quickly, she and Merik had been stranded for close to a month on _Formos_ , where they had landed - _well, more of a crash than a controlled landing_ , she reminded herself - with the malfunctioning small vessel that had belonged to the smugglers. So, both of them had just been happy to get hired onto any outbound ship and she hadn't looked too closely at the vessel Merik had procured. But should they be unlucky enough to get caught, the Imperials would certainly not care to make a difference. Cling together, swing together, as the old saying went.

"What planet will it be this time?" Serina turned to the young man who had strapped in on the seat beside her.

"I believe the sun is called _Circarpous Major_. If I understood the captain correctly, then we are heading for the fourth planet."

"And what are we _trading_ this time?" The sarcasm in her voice was palpable.

Merik gave her a hurt look. "Hey, I'm really sorry I got us into this mess. How should I have known that these people were smugglers? You know, it's not like I had many dealings with this kind of people before! And we needed a ship, badly!"

Serina knew that he was right. It was unfair to blame him for their current circumstances. Actually, it was her own fault for not taking a better look at their new employer.

At least, the current situation had given her a good excuse to lose interest in the young man. Not that she had intended to keep up her little feint much longer anyway. For the past few months since they had escaped the fate of Jared and the rest of his group, Merik had been an acceptable companion and perhaps even a friend, but the time had come to get rid of him before he started to develop an even stronger attachment to her. When they had gotten stranded on _Formos_ , she had considered it advisable to intensify his existing interest in her into what he considered "love", applying the Force in ways Tantra had taught her. Not necessarily the kind of use her old teacher would have approved of, but she had considered it necessary at the time. And she was still amazed at how well and how quickly it had worked. But now the time had come to put an end to those induced feelings.

"Has Captain Ayer told you at least what part we are supposed to play this time?" she resumed her original line of thought.

"I guess we are to go to some place in the town and meet some kind of contact. That's all I know." He leaned closer to her and lowered his voice to a whisper. "Perhaps we can sneak away and find us another ship before he even notices that we are gone?"

Serina looked at him skeptically. "And where do you think we'll find another ship this quickly? And, above all, one, that's not another smuggler? On that out-of-the-way planet down there perhaps?" Again, her voice was dripping with sarcasm.

Merik shook his head and turned away from her. It was of no use. Perhaps it was better if their ways parted as soon as possible. Should Serina see to herself, he had no intention of returning to the _Ayers' Nest_ no matter what happened on the planet, even if it would cause him to get stuck there for some weeks or months.

* * *

Six ominous shapes appeared just beyond _Circarpous XIV_ and started their travel toward its sun. Several squadrons of TIE fighters emerged like bees from their hive and began to spread throughout the system.

Inside the _Exactor_ , the foremost of the three Imperial Star Destroyers flanked by three smaller Victory Class vessels, Darth Vader sat motionless in his raised meditation chamber. As Captain Cords approached, the sphere opened slowly, the upper lid lifting like a jagged-toothed mechanical jaw. Swallowing hard at the lump in his throat, Cords took another step forward.

"What is it, Captain?" The mechanical breathing from within the chamber sent a chill down Cords' spine.

"We have entered the _Circarpous_ system," the officer replied. "Our arrival at the fourth planet will be in approximately thirty minutes. Since the survey team on _Mimban_ has failed to respond to our calls, Admiral Serfs has detached a shuttle to check up on the situation there. A report is expected before we reach our destination."

"Contact Governor Baslers concerning our arrival and ensure that no ships leave the system without the proper authorization."

"Yes, Lord Vader." Captain Cords turned and left the room, glad to escape the evil presence of their much-dreaded leader.

As the mechanical jaw closed again slowly, Vader resumed his interrupted meditation. Leaning back in his comfortable chair, he concentrated on the Force engulfing him and reached out with his mind to scan the region of space around them. This mission had several goals in mind, but only one of them really mattered to the Sith Lord. The great purge had eliminated most of the Jedi already some years ago, but some of them had gone into hiding. To find these last remnants who had even managed to evade his inquisitors during the past seven years and to exterminate them with his own hands would be a great pleasure indeed. If a show of power for the Empire and a crackdown on the smuggling trade could be accomplished at the same time, so much the better.

Suddenly, his attention was riveted as a slight ripple passed through the Force. But even as he tried to reach for the source of the sensation, it stopped as suddenly as it had started. Was there a Jedi in the vicinity? It was possible, but not certain. Though he had not been able to clearly locate the source, the sensation had originated somewhere ahead of them, probably even from their destination, _Circarpous IV_. Whoever had caused it would not get a chance to escape.

* * *

The central spaceport on _Circarpous IV_ didn't differ much from any of the others Serina had visited in the year since hitching her first ride out of _Taanab_. Perhaps it was due to the fact that the clientele was always the same no matter where she went. The dingy taverns and hotels belonged there just as much as the small garrison of stormtroopers guarding the Imperial governor's residence just outside of the spaceport.

Customs procedures were not as stringent as on some of the other planets they had visited recently and it had been easy for Serina to divert any attention from the strange device she was carrying with the help of the Force. She had not been willing to leave the lightsaber, one of the few personal items she had been able to save during their escape from the _Coresac_ , behind on the ship since she had the distinct feeling she would not be returning there again. Besides, even with all the gadgets that made it look like some kind of holocam and despite the fact, that she had not so much as switched it on yet, it gave her a strange feeling of security.

Slowly, Merik and Serina strolled down the main thoroughfare toward the arranged meeting place. The captain had sent them to a small cafe located directly along the main street. There they were to wait until their contact showed up, supposedly shortly after noon.

The winter season of _Circarpous IV_ had ended recently and the weather was already warm enough to use the tables and chairs outside of the cafe. Merik and Serina put down their small satchels, sat down and ordered some caf. It was still two hours until noon and they would have enough time to consider their further plans until the contact showed up.

For long moments, they just sat there quietly, each contemplating their options when suddenly a loud roar erupted out of the direction they had just come from. People all around them jumped to their feet and pointed toward the sky above the spaceport.

"Hey, isn't that our ship?!" Merik shouted his eyes fixed upon a dark shape among several others that quickly vanished out of sight.

Serina's gaze followed his outstretched arm. "Yeah, that's the _Ayers' Nest_ alright. I guess we won't have to worry about getting away from our employer anymore, now will we?" The sarcastic tone had again crept into her voice, now however mingled with the relief she felt at the unexpected development. "I just wonder what happened. If I'm not totally mistaken, all those ships that left were of the same kind as ours." She didn't have to get more specific. Even Merik had learned to discern potential smugglers during the months that had passed.

"Perhaps there was some sort of crack-down by the authorities?" he ventured.

"Yeah, that would be an explanation. Yet somehow, I don't think it's quite that simple." But, Serina reminded herself, she had ways of finding out what had really happened that Merik knew nothing of. The commotion around them gradually calmed down as everybody returned to their seats. Serina took another sip from her cup and leaned back in her chair.

A quick glance at Merik assured her that he was too occupied with his own thoughts to disturb her during the next few moments. Closing her eyes, she reached out with her mind in the direction of the spaceport. If she could pick up on the emotions of the people there, it might tell her what had happened. _Confusion, fear, utter despair_. Those were the feelings that prevailed in those left at the docking facilities. But why? What could be so awful to put people into such a state of mind? And strangely enough, these emotions were somehow directed upward, as if they expected some sort of doom to fall from the sky. Perplexed, Serina extended her search in the same direction, toward space. And recoiled sharply at what she found there. Gasping, she opened her eyes and stared at Merik.

Startled by her surprised wheeze, her companion frowned at her. "What's the matter? Are you ok?" he voiced his concern.

"It's ..., ah, it's nothing, ah, I'm ok, don't worry. I just had a really strange feeling, as if something awful is going to happen soon. But it's gone now. Perhaps we should leave and try to find a place to spend the night."

"That's a good idea," the young man agreed. "I doubt that our contact will show up now anyway."

While they tried to get the attention of the waiterdroid to pay their bill, Serina considered what she had just felt. It had been like touching a dark, cold essence, evil and quite powerful. And yet, somehow, she felt a strange fascination for what she had encountered. Whatever it had been, it had struck a chord deep down inside of her.

* * *

Darth Vader loomed like a vengeful god of darkness as he stood on the main control deck of the leading Star Destroyer. Quietly, Admiral Serfs and his aide moved to stand behind their black-garbed leader. After a long moment, he turned to them. "Yes, Admiral?"

"Lord Vader, Governor Baslers sends you his greetings. Everything is prepared for your arrival. Several smaller ships have tried to escape the system. Two of them were destroyed, the others are currently held for investigation."

"Has the report concerning the survey team on _Mimban_ come in yet?"

"Yes, Lord Vader, just moments ago. The shuttle has landed at the main campsite, but they have only found functional, yet deserted buildings. The troops have started a thorough search of the surrounding woods immediately, but so far without any results."

"Keep me updated, Admiral. Is my shuttle ready to launch?"

"It is, Lord Vader," the admiral confirmed as he stepped aside to let the Sith Lord pass. He had to hurry to keep up with Vader's strides as they made their way toward the shuttle bay.

The three shuttles carrying the Dark Lord as well as his accompanying troops emerged from the main hangar of the wedge-shaped Star Destroyer and headed for the major spaceport of _Circarpous IV._ The only sound to penetrate the silence in the leading shuttle was the unmistakable mechanical breathing coming from the passenger section, now under lights-out for the landing.

Suddenly, Vader grew absolutely motionless. He did not even allow his machine-regulated breathing to mar his concentration. There it had been again, a stirring in the Force, as if somebody had tried to touch him. Straining his every sense into the ether he tried to follow the sensation to its source, but before he could localize it, the ripple had passed as before. Yet the encounter had provided him with additional insight. First of all, the mind that had touched him was still young. It had received some training already, but by no means did it belong to an accomplished Jedi. However, it had certainly exhibited quite some potential. And secondly, whoever it belonged to was right down in the vicinity of the spaceport.

"Captain," Vader addressed the officer in command of the shuttle, "establish a connection to Governor Baslers. There will be a slight change in plans."

* * *

"I don't know where that stupid droid is. Perhaps we should just get up and leave." Merik was slowly starting to get restless. But before he could even think about putting his words into action, his attention was drawn to an armored troop transport that moved down the main street from the spaceport toward their location. A large loudspeaker array was mounted on top of the cockpit section, blaring out some official information.

As it drew closer, Merik started to make out some of the words.

" _...to the Empire, therefore refusal to attend the parade will be considered high treason and will be punished immediately."_ For a moment, the loudspeaker fell silent, and then the message started over again. " _Today, at noon, a parade in honor of a visiting high official from Imperial Center has been scheduled by Governor Baslers. All persons in the vicinity of the spaceport, locals as well as visitors, are invited to attend. Businesses will close down for the duration of the parade. This is a very unique occasion to show our loyalty to the Empire, therefore refusal to attend..."_

As the message started to repeat itself, Merik cast a glance at Serina. Had she even listened to it? He was starting to wonder about her strange behavior. Though she had tried to disperse his worries, he was sure that something was bothering her. She hadn't spoken at all during the last moments, her gaze fixed upon the far distance.

Again, Merik turned to look toward the spaceport. Suddenly, he noticed white-clad figures starting to spread throughout the streets, advancing slowly toward their location. Stormtroopers! A growing sense of unease overcame him. What if they connected them to the smugglers of the _Ayers' Nest_? Most likely, the ships that had fled the spaceport in a hurry hadn't gotten very far. Despair threatened to overwhelm him as he thought of his diminishing options.

And Serina? She had heard the message, all right, but it didn't matter much to her at the moment. Whoever it was whom she had touched earlier, he was coming her way now. And she was certain, he was coming for her. There would be no escape. A wistful smile crept onto her face as another thought filled her mind. Escape had probably never been an option, anyways. After all, nobody could escape his or her destiny.

* * *

After giving his final instructions for the hurriedly arranged parade, Governor Baslers approached the dark-clad figure now emerging from the just landed shuttle. Trying to hide his trembling, he bowed in greeting.

"Welcome, Lord Vader. We are very pleased that you have found some time to visit our lowly outpost. We have tried everything to accommodate your orders, but you must admit that everything has been done on very short notice, therefore..." With a sharp motion of his hand, Vader swept the rest of the governor's excuses aside.

"You had enough time." Without any further explanation, the Sith Lord passed the cowering figure and headed toward the gates leading into the settlement. Soon he would confront whoever had drawn his attention.

The stormtroopers had herded everybody from the side streets and the stores toward the main thoroughfare and crowds of people, humans as well as aliens, were lining the street. The armored transport had returned and was leading the parade, the Imperial March resounding from its loudspeaker.

Vader carefully scanned the crowd as he followed behind the vehicle, flanked by Admiral Serfs on his right and the governor on his left. Several local officials together with leading officers from his ship brought up the rear together with another group of stormtroopers.

The Sith Lord knew well the effect he had on people. Even so they had been forced to line the street, nonetheless, those closest to him tried to push against those behind them in an effort to get away from his presence as far as possible. Under his hideous mask, Vader allowed himself a smile. The more they feared him, the better.

* * *

As the procession drew closer, Merik and Serina were forced to get up along with the other customers. Quickly they grabbed their meager belongings and stepped up to the curb. Everybody was gazing toward the spaceport, trying to discern who the high Imperial official might be, but the preceding vehicle was hiding whoever followed in its wake.

"We shouldn't stand this close to the front," Merik whispered into Serina's ear. But when he tried to pull her toward the back of the crowd she shook off his hand and stepped even closer to the curb.

Soon the vehicle had passed them allowing an unimpeded view of the black-garbed figure behind it. A wave of trepidation swept through the crowd as everybody took an involuntary step back, away from the looming personified evil, everyone - except for Serina. Suddenly she was standing all alone at the very front of the crowd, her gaze fixed upon the Sith Lord, who had stopped only meters away from her. It was as if time had come to a halt. Everything around her vanished from her perception, as her full attention centered itself on the masked figure in the middle of the road.

For an instant, the absurdity of her own reaction hit her. She should be scared stiff! Or at least follow the lead of those around her and get as far away from that personified evil as possible! But … she wasn't scared one bit and she didn't want to get away from him, either. Far from it! She felt drawn to him in a quite inexplicable way, wanted him to take notice of her and the only worry that crossed her mind was that he might ignore her.

One glance at the young woman had been enough to convince Vader that she was the one he had come looking for. She could not be any older than sixteen or seventeen, but the Force was already strong in her. The way she stood there, gazing intently at him, surprised him. There was no fear or dread in her eyes or her emotions, just a barely contained excitement about meeting him. And a strong desire to be taught in the ways of the Force. Had she been looking for him?

He motioned to one of his troopers. "Get me that girl over there."

At first, Serina didn't even notice the white armored figure that had stepped up to her side. Finally, she turned her head. "Excuse me, what did you say?"

"Lord Vader wants to see you!" he shouted at her above the din of the blaring loudspeaker. "Come with me!"

A pleased smile spread across Serina's face. "Gladly!" she exclaimed and followed the trooper toward the dark figure in the middle of the road.

"My Lord," she addressed him bowing down her head. Then she gazed up expectantly into the hideous mask covering the face of the Sith Lord.

"You are looking for a teacher in the ways of the Force." It was not a question. " _I_ will be your teacher. You will not disappoint me."

The realization of what she had just been offered slowly dawned on the young woman. Vader her teacher? But, of course! The vision from eight years prior came rushing back to her mind and a deep conviction settled within her: this had been her destiny all along. Bowing her head deferentially, Serina replied, "Yes, my Lord, I will not disappoint you!"

Vader turned to the trooper who had brought her to him. "Take her to the _Exactor_ and arrange accommodations for her close to mine." After a last glance at the young woman, who, after a slight bow toward him, turned and followed the trooper toward the spaceport, the Dark Lord resumed his march toward the governor's residence.

He had sensed no aversion to the dark side in the girl. It definitely hadn't been a Jedi who had given her the very rudimentary training she had displayed in her attempt of scanning him earlier. It would be easy to guide her into the teachings of the Sith. The Force was strong in her and within a short time, she would turn into a useful tool for him. A sudden reluctance overcame him as he thought of the Emperor. What would his master's reaction be should he find out about his newest apprentice? No, he decided, he would not inform him about her just yet. The Emperor had a habit of claiming those with the greatest potential for his own personal service. But Vader had discovered her and she would be his student first. He could always tell his master about her once her training was completed; unless, of course, he found out about her ahead of that moment.

* * *

The sight of the huge Star Destroyer ahead of them was breathtaking. Serina had never seen a ship this size before. How many persons were needed to keep this monster of a vessel moving, she wondered briefly? Had she been able to visit a training academy and afterward one of the main service academies as she had intended, she might have even gotten stationed on one just like it.

A wistful smile crossed her face. Perhaps it was not at all too late to accomplish those dreams. If she could convince Lord Vader that it would be important for her service for him to have some military training, he might even send her there himself.

Despite all her excitement about the offer she had just received, she had no delusions about what it entailed. Sure, Vader would be her teacher, but it wouldn't be for her own benefit. She was too well aware of the kind of person the Dark Lord was. The ruthlessness he employed to achieve his goals was well known across the Empire. He would expect her to serve him in whatever capacity he saw fit. As long as she served him well and helped him further his own goals she would be fine. But she already dreaded the moment when she failed him in one form or another. No, she called herself to order, failure was not an option she would allow herself. And she would not give in to this dread like all the others who had to deal with Lord Vader: she would not allow herself to fear him.

After the shuttle had set down in the huge landing bay, the trooper led her deep into the bowels of the ship to the quartermaster's office. She felt the stares of the crewmembers they passed, becoming only too aware of her worn-out clothing. She would have to do something about it as soon as possible.

"Quartermaster," the trooper addressed the older man behind the desk in the middle of the small office they had stepped into. "Lord Vader has ordered to assign this young woman some quarters, as close to his own as possible. He expects her to be settled in by the time he returns to the ship."

The older man let his fingers play across his terminal. "I have assigned her room 405, level 95. That's the closest I can give her to Lord Vader's rooms. Droids are already dispatched to prepare the room for her." After a glance at Serina, he added, "And perhaps you should pass the supplies-office on your way there to get her something appropriate to wear."

The trooper was already directing Serina back out of the office when the quartermaster called out to her, "Wait just a moment, Miss. This might be helpful to you." He handed her a small pad and quickly explained its functions to her. "This should help you to not get lost. When you are comfortable enough with finding your way around, you can return it to me." Serina smiled warmly at him, thanking him for his help. Then she turned and followed the trooper toward the turbolift shaft.


	12. Scrutinized

**Scrutinized**

(12 BBY)

For a ship the size of an Imperial Star Destroyer, the quarters she had been taken to might not be considered large, but after having to share a room perhaps one fourth of its size with Merik aboard the _Ayers' Nest_ , it seemed huge. And it even had its own refresher area. What more could she ask for?

The trooper had told her, that this type of room was usually reserved for junior officers. "It will probably take some time before Lord Vader returns. When he is ready to see you, he will call you and the guard outside will take you to him. You are to stay in your quarters until Lord Vader commands otherwise. The guard can take you to the nearest mess hall if you are hungry, but you are not to roam around the ship on your own." After explaining to her the controls of the intercom, he had left the room to return to his usual duty station.

Finally alone, Serina sank down onto the bed in the middle of the room. Had it been only an hour ago, that she had been sitting with Merik in that little cafe down on _Circarpous IV_? For a moment, she considered what might have happened to him, but she quickly pushed the thought aside. Merik was no longer of any concern to her.

Suddenly, she became aware of the lightsaber by her side, still disguised as a holocam. Quickly she removed the gadgets that enclosed it. As she turned the ancient device over in her hands, her mind wandered back to Tantra, her old teacher _. What would she say if she knew were I've ended up?_ She couldn't help the uneasiness that thought evoked. _She certainly wouldn't be pleased with my choice of teacher._

But there was no turning back now. Her mind was made up. She would be the best student Vader ever had, willing to learn anything he could teach her. Filled with new determination, she switched on the lightsaber for the first time since Tantra had talked her into taking it, more than a year prior. Instantly an orange-red beam shot forth out of the handle. It was dense to the point of opacity and little over a meter in length. Although she did not feel any heat from it, she was careful not to touch it. Her past studies of Jedi history had given her enough knowledge about what a lightsaber could do.

It was truly an elegant weapon, not as clumsy or as random as a blaster. She could hardly wait until Lord Vader showed her how to use it. And she was certain he would. Touching the button set into the handle a second time she extinguished the blade. For a moment, she considered where to put the precious device. She would have to show it to her new teacher, but others didn't have to know about it until she was able to use it properly. After placing it under the pillow on her bed, she started to get undressed. A hot shower would do her really good. And afterwards, she would get herself something to eat. Her life had just entered into a new stage and she was prepared to meet the new challenges head-on.

* * *

A small dinner and a couple hours of sleep later, Serina was just getting dressed again, when a chime sounded from the door.

"Come on in," she called as soon as she had pulled on her new dark blue top. A young officer entered her quarters.

"Lord Vader will see you now. If you are ready, I will take you to him."

"I'll be ready in just a moment," Serina replied.

After the young man had left the room, she removed the lightsaber from under her pillow and attached it to her belt. Then she pulled her dark robe – another inheritance she had gotten from Tantra – out of her bag and completed her attire, effectively hiding the weapon. After combing through her hair a final time, she stepped out into the hallway.

A short walk later, they reached the entrance to Vader's rooms. The junior officer led the way into the dark chamber beyond.

"Lord Vader," he announced into the darkness, "the young woman from _Circarpous IV_ , as you requested." Then he turned and left the room. The heavy doors slid shut behind him.

Slowly, Serina's eyes adjusted to the dimness. The stars visible on the large view screen on the far wall were the only light source. Vader stood silhouetted in front of it, his back toward her.

"Tell me your name and where you are from." The deep, modulated voice was strangely emotionless, as if it was not a man, but a machine speaking.

"My name is Serina, my Lord, Serina Wanders, and I was born on _Taanab_ , on the edge of the inner rim." Serina was careful to keep her voice as even as possible.

"You had some training in the ways of the Force." It was no question. "Who was your teacher?"

"An old woman, my Lord. Her name was Tantra. She taught me for a little over three years, but only very basic techniques."

"And this Tantra, does she still live?"

"No, my Lord, she died the year I graduated from public school, shortly before I left _Taanab_." In a way, Serina was quite glad that Tantra was already dead. The Empire had been hunting down all the Jedi during the past seven, eight years. Tantra had escaped since she had never been properly trained and because _Taanab_ was such a backwater planet. Serina did not want to think of what Vader might have done to her old teacher, had she still been alive at this time.

"How did you become her student?"

Quickly Serina recounted to him the events from her visions during her childhood and the death of her parents when she was ten, to the time she had visited Tantra together with her Aunt Marisa. But she carefully omitted any details regarding the visions, especially of the one that had revealed to her his true identity, a memory she buried quickly in the farthest depths of her mind. "Right before Tantra died, she made me take this as a gift. It used to belong to a Jedi, whom she had been in love with as a young girl." She unhooked the lightsaber from her belt and presented it to the Dark Lord.

He turned to look at the proffered object. A motion of his hand caused the lights to rise to a normal level. He took the weapon out of her hand and ignited it. For a long moment, he assessed the orange-red beam protruding out of the delicately carved handle. Then he switched it off and handed it back to her.

His next question caused her to hesitate: "Why did you leave _Taanab_?"

There were various reasons she could give him, but why did she actually leave? For a moment, her thoughts went back to the day Tantra had died. Had it been the sadness about her teacher's death? Or the loneliness she had felt and the need for somebody else to continue teaching her in the ways of the Force? Or had it been her desire to join the Imperial Navy, her longing for adventures, for a different life than that of a farmer on a backwater planet out on the rim?

Vader sensed the indecision in the young woman. "Now, tell me: why did you leave?" he demanded again of her.

Serina looked up into the hideous breathing mask that covered the Sith Lord's face. "There were actually two main reasons, my Lord. I had applied for several of the naval training academies, but had been rejected. I wanted to try again closer to the _Core_. My other purpose was to find a new teacher, somebody who could show me more about the ways of the Force than Tantra had been able to. But there are no Jedi left, at least that I know of. But ..." she swallowed down the lump that had formed in her throat, "perhaps it was my destiny to find you."

For a long time, Vader gazed at her appraisingly, but Serina did not squirm under his intense stare. "You do understand what I have offered you?" he finally asked.

Serina nodded slowly. "Yes, my Lord, I do. Tantra might not have known much about using the Force, but she did know quite a lot about Jedi history. And I've done a lot of studying myself, and not only the history of the Jedi. I learned about the Sith, too. The Sith have always fascinated me." After a short hesitation, she emphasized, " _You_ have always fascinated me." She took a step toward the dark robed figure and knelt down before him. "Your will is my command, master. I will not disappoint you."

Again, Vader regarded her silently for long moments. Did she truly mean what she had just told him? How far was she willing to subject herself to his command, to him becoming her master? There was only one way of finding out for sure. And if her words had been true she would have no reason to object to his methods.

"Very well, Serina, I shall find out if you have spoken the truth. Open yourself to me, do not try to hide anything from me." Then he reached out for her mind through the Force.

At first, Serina's mind prepared to recoil at the malignancy that touched her, as she had on _Circarpous IV_ , but she forced herself to remain calm and not fight against Vader's probing. It was like allowing a black flood to pour into her soul. A cold heavy darkness entered her mind, evaluating her intents and thoughts. Involuntarily, she started to shiver under the forceful presence weighing on her.

And yet, somehow it did not really bother her to feel his mind within her. She had nothing to hide. What she had told him was the truth. What was he expecting her to do? To just wait until he had tested her thoroughly? Or did he expect her to use her own abilities to find out more about him? A strange curiosity overcame her, a compelling desire to return the probing in like manner. Like the sand gets drawn into the ocean on the undercurrent of a wave, she allowed her mind to be carried along the edges of Vader's mental fingers, following them back to their source.

An evil darkness greeted her and yet it was glorious, full of the power of the dark side. For a moment, she was sharing in his pleasure at wielding that power, at holding the lives of thousands and millions in his hands, at being feared and respected by those put under his authority. And she sensed the deep founded satisfaction at eliminating the Jedi, at making them suffer for what one of them had done to him, at besting the best of them in fight and striking the fatal blow at the majority of them during the final show-down between the Jedi and the troops of the Emperor.

But Serina did not stop there. There were two sides to each life's story. Would Vader allow her to go deeper and find his other side, his hidden side as well? Carefully she pushed further into his mind. And behind all the glorious revelry of the dark side she found ... loneliness, bitterness, anger and a hatred so fierce that she at first recoiled, unable to bear the intensity of it.

And yet, at last, she understood what had drawn her to this man, why he had become her destiny. She could relate to that loneliness, that bitterness only too well. It was a result of being different, of having powers that others did not understand, that caused even your friends to withdraw from you, making them suspicious of your very doings.

But that hatred, that was something different. As she was still trying to fathom the cause of such a strong, fierce emotion, she suddenly found herself cast back into her own mind, the link that had built between them, torn asunder as Vader withdrew his presence from her and reformed his own mental shields.

For long moments, her body still shivered from the exchange then she got a hold of herself. Anxiously, she awaited his final decision. Had she overstepped her bounds?

Vader had turned back to the large view screen and was pondering what he had sensed in Serina's mind. Her seriousness and willingness to submit to him had been easy to verify. He had expected more resistance to his probing, but she had held back nothing. And he was quite pleased that she had returned his probing in like manner. She had encountered what he had wanted her to find ... and even more. Her persistence to look behind the obvious, to find out more about what was driving him, had surprised him, but it had been a pleasant surprise. Yes, she would be a good tool in his hands if he could direct her undeveloped potential into the right paths. For a moment, he felt amusement at the irony of the situation. Had she been discovered by the Jedi at an early age, she would most likely have been one of the younglings in the Temple during Order 66. She would have died at his hands as all the others had. Would her fascination with him survive the insight into that fact?

"Arise, Serina, and join me," he finally commanded her. Without hesitation, Serina got up and stepped to his side, gazing out at the displayed beauty of open space. "You have made the right decision. The Jedi were weak, not using the true powers of the Force. Therefore, they perished. But the dark side will allow you to reach your full potential. Once your training is complete and you have proved yourself worthy of my trust, you will have the chance to make a difference, to assist our cause in bringing enduring peace to this galaxy."

Serina could sense the deep desire in the man beside her to accomplish this task. _Peace, yes, but at what cost_ , she wondered briefly. The peace that now existed was a peace through force and based on fear, preserved through unlimited power in the hands of very few, foremost the Emperor and Lord Vader himself.

An uneasy feeling started spreading within her. Would a galaxy, pressed into subjection to the rule of this Sith Lord and his own even darker master over any length of time be really worth living in? With a grim determination, she silenced the uninvited little voice nagging in the back of her mind. Now was not the time for considerations of this sort. Most of the galaxy was just starting to feel the heavy hand of the Empire and the so-called peace was still quite fragile. For now, she would learn whatever he was able and willing to teach her.

Slowly, she nodded to herself. Yes, she would prove herself worthy of his trust. What kind of role she would play in Vader's future plans, now that decision would have to wait until a much later time.


End file.
